Moderator: The feed for this streaming event
brought to you by adminmonitor.com.
Operator: 2020.
Thank you, President Batjer, you may proceed.
-: Thank you, operator.
Good morning.
We need to establish a quorum,
so would the agenda clerk please call the roll?
Clerk: For Commission meeting 3462,
Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Present
-: Commissioner Guzman Aceves? -: Present.
-: Commissioner Randolph? -: Here.
-: Commissioner Rechtschaffen? -: Present.
-: President Batjer? -: Present.
Thank you very much. We have established a quorum.
Welcome, everyone,
to the California Public Utilities Commission.
I am calling this meeting of May 28th, 2020,
Public Agenda Number 3462 to order.
Governor Gavin Newsome issued a Stay-at-Home order
to protect the health and well-being of all Californians
and to establish consistency across the state,
in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.
As such, we are conducting today's business meeting
online and by remote participation.
This meeting is live-streamed on the CPUC's meetings.
You can view the meeting at www.adminmonitor.com/ca/cpuc.
Public engagement is absolutely critical to the PUC process.
As the operator stated, please dial in to 1-800-857-1917
and enter passcode 9-8-9-9-5-0-1,
and press star-one, only.
If you wish to make a public comment,
you will be placed into a queue and the operator
will take your name and organization.
Due to the high call volumes, there may be a slight delay
from the time you press star-one
to the time the operator asks for your information.
Please be patient and stay on the line.
You will be called upon to speak when we get
to the public comment period in today's agenda.
Emails received by 10:00 AM this morning will be read
by the Public Advisor Allison Brown,
during the public comment period, if there is time.
Email comments received after 10:00 AM will be distributed
to the commissioners and senior management,
as will those emails that we do not have time,
or there are time limitations, they will also be distributed
to the commissioners and senior management.
More than two months have passed
since the statewide Stay-at-Home order was issued.
Governor Newsome moved to Stage 2 of the reopening roadmap,
which outlined specific indicators for counties
to gradually reopen certain businesses.
The State has taken efforts to boost testing capacity,
and many counties are now offering tests
to individuals with and without symptoms of COVID-19.
The Governor also launched California Connected,
a comprehensive contact tracing program
and public awareness campaign.
This program is a public-private partnership
for contact tracers to connect with individuals
who test positive for COVID-19 and work with them
and the people they have been in close contact with
to ensure they have access to confidential testing,
as well as medical care and other services
to help prevent the spread of the virus.
I am encouraged to report that 50 of the CPUC staff
have volunteered and accepted to be contact tracers.
Additional testing, coupled with
gradual reopenings of certain businesses,
and deployment of tracers, are a positive indication.
However, there is not yet a vaccine.
So we have to be smart and we have to continue
to stay-at-home, except for essential needs and activities.
Practice physical distancing.
Wash hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth
with unwashed hands.
And wear a cloth covering or mask
when six feet of distance cannot be maintained.
Here at the CPUC, senior management is exploring
necessary actions to take before employees
can return to work, and steps needed
to keep staff safe when in the office.
Any action taken will be in compliance
with the state protocol.
I would also like to thank the CPU staff,
who have been focused and patient throughout the transition
to the current working environment,
and who continue to humble me with their resilience
and commitment to the CPUC's mission.
The pandemic has put a severe financial strain
on California's budget.
Governor Newsome released the May Revise
of the state budget, and the financial fallout is daunting.
The State is facing a projected $54 billion deficit
in the next fiscal year and revenues are expected
to decrease for several years to come.
All State agencies and departments have been asked
to take immediate actions to reduce expenditures
and identify operational savings.
The State has weathered through an economic crisis before,
and we will do it again.
The spirit and determination and innovation of Californians
has always helped us push through tough times,
and we always come back.
The Commission understands that this crisis
and its impacts to businesses, rate payers, and staff,
will likely continue to evolve.
We will continue to communicate with the public
and stakeholders and work to ensure the safe delivery
of the services Californians rely on
to conduct their daily lives.
We will now turn to public comment.
The commission provides one and a half minutes
to each speaker, one and a half minutes.
You will hear a bell sound when your time is up.
To make telephonic public comments, you can dial in,
and I will repeat the number again, 800-857-1917,
and enter passcode 9-8-9-9-5-0-1,
and press star-one only.
Due to the high call volume, there may be a slight delay
from the time you press star-one
to the time the operator asks for your name.
Please, as I asked before, be patient and stay on the line.
Email comments received by 10:00 AM this morning
will be read by Public Advisor Brown if time permits.
CPUC rules do not allow for parties and proceedings
to speak about open proceedings.
The public can make comments, addressing items
on the consent and regular agendas,
and including items not on the agenda today.
Please note that there will not be public comments
on item 25 and any item on the closed session agenda.
There are a lot of callers on the line
who would like to speak today.
And I want to be able to hear each and every person.
As stated earlier, everyone who wishes
to make a public comment will have one and a half minutes.
I would like to urge everyone to please stay
within the allotted time of one and a half minutes.
You will hear a bell sound.
You will hear a bell sound when your time is up.
Please be mindful of the other people
waiting in the queue to provide public comment.
Your cooperation will help us ensure
that everyone gets their turn to share
their comments with the commissioners.
With that guidance in mind, I welcome today's speakers.
I will now turn to the operator
to open the public comment line.
Operator?
Operator: Thank you. The public comment line is now open.
Our first speaker is Katerina Gaines
with Youth vs Apocalypse.
You may go ahead.
Katerina: Hi, my name is Katerina and I am 15 years old,
and I am with Youth vs Apocalypse.
I'm here to urge you to reject PG&E's reorganization plan.
This plan does not protect rate payers,
fire survivors, people, and our climate.
PG&E needs to be held responsible for the destructive
and careless system they have used.
They have literally destroyed people's lives.
Last year alone they contributed
to some of the worst wildfires California has ever seen.
Because of their lack of accountability,
people lost their lives.
Kids couldn't go to school and ecosystems were destroyed.
We cannot allow for this corporation
to continue business as usual.
We have seen on too many occasions that this does not work.
We need fire survivors to be fully compensated,
and we need to know that we will not be treated
as if we are disposable.
Wildfires are more destructive than ever before,
due to climate change.
Fire seasons are longer and the climate is warmer.
PG&E is providing our energy source from fossil fuels.
This cannot continue, because if it does,
we will not have a livable future.
No corporation should have the right
to take away my future and the future
of every other generation to come, as well as our planet.
We cannot allow private corporations to dictate our future.
We need a just and equitable transition
to renewable energy as soon as possible.
Your choices today will decide our future.
Please don't let PG&E take away mine.
Right now you have the power to reform a company
that has gotten away with destroying people's lives,
ecosystems, and our future.
Everyone's futures will be impacted by the choices you make.
Thank you for your time today.
-: Thank you, Katerina.
The next caller please, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Anabelle Lampson
with Youth vs Apocalypse and the Sunrise Movement.
You may go ahead.
Annabelle: Good morning, everyone.
My name is Annabelle, and I'm 18, and organized
with Youth vs Apocalypse and my local Sunrise hub.
I'm proud to be from the magical land
of Sonoma County, California,
and want to first acknowledge the Pomo people
who have been caretakers of this place for millennia.
I dedicate this comment to the land
I'm so lucky to call home.
I remember two years ago sitting on the couch with my mom,
in the darkness of early morning,
There was thick smoke in the air.
I will never forget the overwhelming sadness
of hearing my aunt's voice, who is just a town away,
as she told us she and her family
had just escaped her neighborhood
where every home in sight around hers was up in flames.
I do not believe anyone deserves this feeling.
How much longer are we going to treat people
like they don't matter.
How much longer are the people going to have to endure
the violence of destructive industries,
dominant systems, and brutalities of culture
perpetuated by an economy based on greed?
I ask you, Members of the Public Utilities Commission,
do you stand with us, the public, or private money?
Please reject this PG&E deal.
California's communities, and communities all around us,
earth, our shared home, have sustainable energy solutions.
I echo all the demands of the Reclaim Our Power Campaign.
Reclaiming our power source is about
reclaiming our freedom.
My brothers and sisters, human and nonhuman,
who are victimized by the fossil fuels industry's
pervasive oppression are not forgotten.
My ancestors are not forgotten.
The ones to come are not forgotten.
I don't want to fight for scraps in a dying world.
I want 2020 to be the year that we,
as a society, rewrite the story.
This public utilities commission has the power
to hold the governor accountable.
Let's get big money out of politics.
Give the people what we deserve.
And for God's sake, help us rebuild the future.
Thank you for your time.
-: Thank you. Annabelle
You went over a little bit,
I just want to remind the other callers,
I need us to adhere to the timeframe of 1.5 minutes.
Operator?
Operator: Our next speaker is Barbara Stebbins,
with Local Clean Energy Alliance, your line is open.
Barbara: Can you hear me?
-: Yes. -: Yes.
Barbara: Okay, my name is Barbara Stebbins.
I'm with Local Clean Energy Alliance.
Once again, we come to you to ask you
to reject PG&E's reorganization plan.
Your job is to ensure safe delivery
of energy to the people of California
by properly regulating the investor-owned utilities.
In the past, the commission has
mostly performed that job to ensure
that the IOUs had good credit rating for investment.
The result of prioritizing it in that way
has been that PG&E has become a corporation
out of control in their pursuit of profit.
Just to remind you of what we have
had to put up with from PG&E in the past,
there was, I think, groundwater contamination
back in the sixties, their first bankruptcy in 2001,
the death and destruction of a San Bruno neighborhood
in 2010, the five felony counts that followed,
deadly wildfires resulting from defective equipment
in 2017 and 2018, and the resulting
84 counts of felony manslaughter.
Please do not force the people of California to continue
to suffer from the bad behavior of this corporation.
Whatever new catastrophe gets perpetrated
on the people of California will be your responsibility
if you okay their reorganization plan today.
Given that history, it is also unbelievable
that you would vote to give PG&E a central procurement role
for resource adequacy to fix a problem that does not exist
and tramples on local governments' rights.
I urge you to reject item four on your consent calendar.
I echo all of the demands of the Reclaim Our Power.
Thank you.
Operator: Our next caller is Chuck Roselle from EACE.
You may go ahead.
Chuck: My name is Chuck Roselle, and I represent
the thoughts of the Alliance for Community Energy.
I'm calling in to express opposition
to agenda item number four, the proposed decision
and rulemaking 17-09-020 regarding resource adequacy.
Any central processing authority should be balanced
to include the needs of community choice
as well as the investor-owned utilities.
An example would be the language that was included
in Assembly Bill 3014 from Assembly Member Muratsuchi,
which created a transparent funding authority.
It should also address the elimination
of the PCIA on an ongoing basis.
Thank you very much.
-: Thank you, Chuck.
Next caller, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Elise Gallant
with the Sunrise Movement.
Your line is open.
Elise: Hi, my name is Elise Gallant.
I'm calling in with the Sunrise Movement.
And I'm calling also to oppose the PG&E bailout.
And to say that rate payers must be protected
and not forced to pay for the failures of PG&E.
If rate payers are forced to pay for PG&E's bankruptcy debt,
then rate payers should be given
a share of ownership of the company
to make decisions about its finances.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Elise.
Operator?
Robert: President Batjer.
The next caller is Gina Berrigan, Youth vs Apocalypse.
Gina: Hi, good morning.
My name is Gina Berrigan, I'm a high schooler,
and I'm of the organization Youth vs Apocalypse.
And today I want to urge you to take note
that we need a different PG&E,
because at this moment of a public health crisis,
vulnerable households and communities need to be protected.
Many people aren't working right now
and we shouldn't have to worry about our energy providers
giving us an energy source that could potentially harm us.
Any plan should include debt free forgiveness
for vulnerable households.
We should act now to make a change or not accept this deal.
Personally, for me, being from a low income community,
I can see how it could potentially
harm my community and the people I love.
We need to see clean energy as a right for everyone,
and not as a source of profit for shareholders,
especially while we are all in the same shelter order.
I should be able to have a reliable source of energy
for school work and food.
You all can help to better the system
and let the people be able to have a say
in what happens to our future.
I'm scared for my future and what is to come, as a youth.
It shouldn't be what I worry about.
I shouldn't have to worry about shutoffs
or more forest fires that have
already affected so many innocent people.
I shouldn't have to worry about the effects
on my daily life or the environment around me.
The bankruptcy of PG&E shouldn't be
put on rate payers and vulnerable communities.
You have the power to reject this deal
and find a more equitable solution that keeps everyone,
including vulnerable communities, protected.
Right now, you, as the commission, has that power
to change that and allow us safe access to clean energy.
I echo the demands of the Reclaim Our Power Campaign.
Thank you for your time.
-: Thank you, Gina.
Next caller please, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Jada Delgam
with Local Clean Energy Alliance.
Your line is open.
Jada: Hi, my name is Jada Delgam.
I'm with the Local Clean Energy Alliance.
I urge the commission to reject
the PG&E reorganization plan.
This commission has the power to hold
PG&E accountable for its bad decisions.
However, this deal with PG&E doesn't provide justice
to wildfire survivors or to rate payers.
It needs major changes.
First of all, you need to make sure to protect rate payers.
We don't want to keep bearing the risk and costs
and pay for the failures of PG&E again and again.
Second, wildfire survivors need justice as well.
They should be compensated immediately.
And finally, I think Californians
deserve a better energy system,
a system based on decentralized and clean energy,
a system that has representatives of diverse sectors,
including disadvantaged communities
and California workers on the table as board members.
I support the Reclaim Our Power Campaign's demands.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator, our next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Nick Travaglini with DSA.
Your line is open.
Nick: Good morning, Commissioners.
And thank you so much for taking these public comments.
I'm here to ask the commission
to reject the PG&E restructuring plan.
I believe that this plan does not adequately address
the ongoing concerns with PG&E and its safety,
which caused so many wildfires and so much harm
to so many people around the state of California.
I also believe that it does not adequately address
the for-profit nature of PG&E
and how those cost-cutting measures
that will necessarily need to take place
to ensure that it provides profit for its shareholders
will continue to undermine safety.
So I ask that you reject this plan, please.
I stand with the Reclaim Our Power Campaign.
Thank you very much.
-: Thank you very much.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Brian Parkman with DSA
You may go ahead.
Brian: Hello. My name is Brian Parkman.
I am with Silicon Valley DSA.
PG&E has proven time and time again
from San Bruno to Paradise that our safety
is the least of their concerns,
and they will put profit over safety.
Please reject any plan which keeps in place
a for-profit utility.
Until the profit motive is removed,
the energy grid will remain unsafe for communities
because of the underlying motivations remain the same.
The only thing that PG&E deserves at this point
is to be sent into the oblivion.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
The next caller please, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Michael Kaufman
with Communities for a Better Environment.
You may go ahead.
Michael: Thank you.
My name is Michael Kaufman.
I'm a member of Communities For a Better Environment,
and I do believe that PG&E
has not created a better environment.
PG&E through its actions on behalf
of its private shareholders has created
a disaster in California, has murdered people,
that they've been found to be a felony.
And now we're asking for rate payers
funds to be increased, for rate payers to be sacked
some more for this private utility.
We need this private utility to be a public utility.
We need PG&E to do right by the forests and the mountains
where their lines go.
We need PG&E to not increase the rates for rate payers.
We need PG&E to be a proper neighbor for all of us,
not as disaster for all of us.
Please reject this plan. Thank you.
-: Thank you, Michael.
Operator, our next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Lincoln Oliver-O'Neil
with Sunrise Bay Area Movement.
You may go ahead.
Lincoln: Yeah, it is me, Lincoln, sorry, okay.
Hello, can you hear me?
-: Yes we can.
Lincoln: Great.
Well, I am here today. Thank you.
I'm here with the Sunrise Movement.
And I'm here to tell you that Californians
need a transformational energy system
based on clean decentralized energy models.
The plan on the table is considered to be okay
with regards to climate change, because PG&E
will still be able to meet its renewable portfolio standard.
However, despite RPS requirements
being the state's main measuring stick
for how the energy system is adapting to climate change,
our most vulnerable communities are already experiencing
the effect of our energy system's failure
to adapt to climate change.
These burdens are falling most heavily on low income,
Black and Brown, immigrants, and disabled Californians.
Contrary to what PG&E's negligence
and the state's lack of effective oversight suggests,
I am here to tell you that as we adapt to climate change,
nobody is disposable.
Renewable portfolio standards are measured
by their mitigation potential.
Their ability to limit the impact of climate change
on Californians sometime in the future.
But as our communities have felt through asthma and funerals
and destroyed homes, climate change is here now,
and we need our energy system to start adapting to it.
How are you, the commission, leading the charge
on this adaptation effort?
By making PG&E hire their own chief risk
and chief safety officers?
By letting them appoint their own
independent safety advisor?
We need you to do better.
We need an independent safety monitor
appointed by the legislators,
and thus accountable to the people.
We echo the demands of the Reclaim Our Power Campaign.
Thank you for allowing this public comment today.
Any PG&E deal needs to put the needs of fire survivors
and the public first, or it must be rejected.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Lincoln.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Caroline Chen
with Asian Pacific Environmental Network.
You may ask your a question.
Caroline: Hi, good morning.
This is Caroline with the Asian Pacific
Environmental Network, calling in once again to urge you
to reject the PG&E plan, unless it undergoes major changes.
Commissioners, you've heard for weeks now
how the plan in front of you doesn't work for rate payers,
fire survivors, communities, or the climate.
And at this point we are months into a public health crisis
and hurtling towards fire season,
with health ordinance still in need of true safety
from deadly fires, smoke, and shutoffs.
The plan should recognize that energy is a human right
and include debt forgiveness for vulnerable households.
It should include requirements
to immediately de-energize infrastructure upon failure.
And for careful handling of shutoffs,
with the most impacted communities
meaningfully included in decision-making.
This year is also on course to be the world's hottest
since measurements began.
We really need a clean decentralized energy system.
The CPUC should provide a mechanism
for a transition of ownership to a model
accountable to rate payers and workers
if PG&E fails to successfully emerge from bankruptcy.
You have the power to keep Governor Newsome accountable.
Please use it.
We echo the demands of the Reclaim Our Power Campaign.
Please reject this plan. Thank you.
-: Thank you, Caroline.
The next caller please, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Pete Buttigieg
with Reclaim Our Power.
You may go ahead.
Pete: Hello, commissioners.
This is Pete Buttigieg with Reclaim Our Power Campaign.
As Caroline mentioned, you've heard for weeks now,
the voices of fire survivors, people with disabilities,
low income people, rate payers, financial experts,
energy experts, environmentalists, youth,
time and time again saying that the plan in front of you,
the plan of reorganization, does not work for Californians.
And I'll point to a couple of specific things
that you can do in this meeting.
You can propose an alternate decision in this meeting
to shift the outcome and protect lives
and the health and safety of Californians.
You can stand up and create meaningful,
pointed, inclusion of impacted communities
at decision points, when how, and if,
to do power shutoffs in the future.
No more deadly shutoffs for 10 million people
caught in the dark, unable to charge
their wheelchairs or their breathing machines.
You can include the securitization dollar amounts
in with the plan going forward so that PG&E
doesn't come hurtling out of so-called bankruptcy
with $38 billion in debt, putting us back
in this cycle in just a matter of months,
while they're left, grasping at Wall Street straws,
trying to figure out how to pay for our energy.
You can move forward today to make the new entity,
whatever the entity is, accountable to the legislature,
not just to the CPUC, public hearings,
integrated advisers, and integrated monitors
inside the organization. (buzzer chiming)
Thank you for rejecting this plan
unless you make those very needed adjustments.
-: Thank you very much.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Johan Menzo
with Silicon Valley DSA.
You may go ahead.
Johan: Hello? Can you hear me?
-: Yes.
Johan: Hi, my name's Johan Menzo.
I'm representing Silicon Valley
Democratic Socialists of America.
PG&E kills and we should not accept their plan.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Johan.
The next caller please, operator?
Robert: President Batjer,
the next speaker is Derek Ruud,
East Bay Democratic Socialists of America.
Eric: Hello? Can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can, Derek.
Eric: Okay.
Yeah, my name is actually Eric, it's E-R-I-C.
-: Okay.
Eric: Yeah, and I'm with the East Bay
Democratic Socialists of America.
I also stand in support of the Reclaim Our Power
Coalition Campaign.
So, I have been personally impacted by PG&E's negligence.
Excuse me.
Yeah, the house I grew up in was burned down in 2017
in the Nuns Fire, which was caused
by a piece of PG&E equipment.
My dad barely escaped the house.
He didn't even have time to put on shoes.
And my neighbor, Daniel Southard, did not make it out.
And I think this is just one story among many.
And I've heard so many awful stories
about the damage and destruction
that's been caused by this for-profit corporation.
And I think it's pretty clear at this point that PG&E
is really built to serve the investors and not people.
And it's been doing that for literally over a hundred years
at great cost to our communities and our environment.
And as long as it is a for-profit entity,
we'll be stuck in this vicious cycle
of fires, deaths, bankruptcy, bailouts,
and then sort of these superficial
reorganizations of their management.
And this is always gonna be the case
as long as they're a for-profit corporation.
The reorganization plan really doesn't do anything
to change that at any fundamental level
that's gonna make a difference.
So this is a really important moment.
And I think it's a chance for each one of you
on the California Public Utilities Commission,
whose job it is to protect the public,
to show whose side you're on,
(buzzer chiming) the people or the investors?
And this moment is your one chance to do what's right,
and actually change the course of history.
And I hope you take it so that we can actually get on
with repairing our environment and our communities
with a green new deal so that everyone can have
a good life in their local future.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Eric.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Tre Vasquez
with Movement Generation.
You may go ahead.
Tre: Good morning, buenos dias, Commissioners.
My name is Tre Vasquez.
I'm here today to share from my community
here in Santa Rosa, California,
on behalf of my organization Movement Generation,
in support of Reclaim Our Power Campaign.
I've lived here in Sonoma County through two wild fires.
And in both fires, my community worked tirelessly,
sacrificing sleep, meals, and the comfort of our own homes
to take care of those who have been traumatized
by these fires caused by the recklessness of PG&E.
Our county and state simply didn't have the infrastructure
to take care of our communities.
The needs were so great and there wasn't enough preparation
for what we now know was inevitable.
We had to step in and take care of each other,
much like now in the age of COVID.
We can't overlook the fact that
all of this could have been prevented,
and PG&E needs to be held accountable.
Too many have died. Too many have been displaced.
Our rents have gone up over 36%
in the aftermath of the fires,
making this county unlivable for most.
We can't afford rate increases.
What I'm saying to you today is that in our county alone,
there are those of us who will never have a chance
to recover from these fires,
and whose lives are considered an afterthought.
To bail out PG&E says to us that our lives
are worth sacrificing to conduct business as usual.
We've heard the message loud and clear.
We're looking at an upcoming fire season,
more shutoffs in the midst of a global pandemic,
and it's terrifying for our community
who has been failed time and time again by our elected,
and by PG&E's prioritization of money
over human life and our ecosystem.
We don't have time to wait on a supposed
reorganization plan with our lives at stake.
This is your opportunity to hold
investor-owned utilities accountable
for the consequences of their willful negligence.
(buzzer chiming) Like so many who have
expressed in this call today,
that a transformational energy system based on
a clean, decentralized energy model that is possible.
We're asking you to do the right thing today
to make an ethical and humane choice
before it's too late for us.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Tre.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Charlotte Quinn
with Democratic Socialists of America.
You may go ahead.
Charlotte: Hi, my name is Charlotte Quinn.
I live in Mountain View, California.
I'm concerned that despite carefully following,
I'm sorry, Commissioners,
it's clear that PG&E's reorganization plan
will not work for rate payers, the fire survivors,
communities, or the climate.
It's in your power and it's certainly your duty
to build an energy system that works
for all communities and the climate.
We need a public utility.
The existing and proposed for-profit model
is the cause of fires and explosions,
death and destruction, and old unsafe infrastructure.
The for-profit model is why we are wasting precious time
transitioning to clean, renewable energy,
so desperately needed to reduce climate catastrophes.
Please reject any plan that keeps
PG&E as a for-profit utility.
Until the profit motive is removed,
the energy grid will make unsafer communities
just as it has been fatally proven over and over again.
Reject the for-profit utility model
and require that PG&E becomes a public utility.
We desperately need a public utility
that prioritizes clean, renewable energy
that implements decentralized production of energy,
and that has a strong, independent democratic oversight.
Please make PG&E a public utility.
Please do not allow it to remain a for-profit entity,
which will only perpetrate destruction and failure.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Charlotte.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Sam Tunic with East Bay DSA.
You may go ahead.
Sam: Hi, thank you for meeting
to discuss this important issue.
Commissioners you've heard for weeks now,
how the PG&E plan in front of you doesn't work
for rate payers, fire survivors,
communities, or the climate,
and you have the power and responsibility
to build an energy system that works for all of us
and our communities have the answer
of how to build that system.
Please reject this PG&E plan because Californians
need true safety from utility caused fires,
smoke and shutoffs.
And PG&E has proved time and time again
that they value investors' profit above rate payers' safety
and rat payers' financial solvency.
The only way to truly protect the rate payers
and provide justice for impacted communities
is to restructure the utility
such that we all have rigorous, independent,
and democratic oversight of our utility.
Any plan that you approve needs
to immediately provide for an independent monitor
with full access to PG&E operations
to ensure compliance with all terms of the plan.
And that monitor should be selected by
and report to the legislature.
We need democracy in our energy system.
Californians need a transformational energy system
based on a clean, decentralized energy model.
And we know that PG&E has failed to operate safely
to address public safety and climate change.
And the CPUC plan should include a mechanism
for a transition of ownership to a model
that's accountable to rate payers and workers
if PG&E fails to successfully emerge from bankruptcy,
which I would argue that they can't do
in a way that would keep us all safe.
(buzzer chiming)
And so, just lastly, I want to say that we echo,
I echo the demands of the Reclaim Our Power Campaign
and any PG&E deal needs to put the needs of fire survivors
and the public first, or it must be rejected.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Sam.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Alex Morrison
with Sunrise Movement Bay Area.
You may go ahead.
Alex: Hello? Yeah.
I volunteer with Sunrise Movement in the Bay Area.
And during the day I'm a climate resilience planner.
I just wanted to ask the commissioners to reject the plan
that's being proposed by PG&E,
unless it has a few things that I feel are essential
to really having an effective plan
going forward for this utility.
So, first of all, not having a payback
to fire survivors in PG&E stock.
The payback needs to be in cash.
Looking at what's happened with COVID to the stock markets,
I think it's pretty easy to see how any system
that's based on a payback in stocks
can really short change the survivors of these events.
The second thing, that customers need a rigorous
and independent democratic oversight of their utility.
PG&E has flouted their responsibility
to maintain their lines safely,
numerous times among numerous other ways
that they have failed to be held accountable.
And I think that there needs to be a full monitor instituted
that reports to the legislature,
in order to remedy some of this oversight
that they haven't been getting.
Lastly, I think that the plan should include
provisions for California to meet
the transformational change needed in the energy system
towards one that's based on clean energy
and a decentralized energy model.
PG&E has often neglected its role in this transition
and been outright oppositional
to the transition to 100% clean energy.
And so a plan should include a mechanism
for transition of the ownership model
(buzzer chiming) to a model that's
more accountable for rate payers and workers.
One that is public, and specifically,
CPUC's Disadvantaged Community Advisory Committee,
should be able to lay the groundwork
for what this utility should look like
and what a new utility to replace PG&E would look like.
Thank you for your time and your work.
And I cede the rest of my time.
-: Thank you, Alex
Next caller please, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Crystal Wong
for the People Power Solar Cooperative.
You may go ahead.
Crystal: Thank you, and good morning, Commissioners.
Thank you for patiently taking these public comments.
People Power Solar Cooperative
has member-owners all across California.
We urgently need plans to ensure power security
for the vulnerable communities who rely on power to live,
especially in the middle of the pandemic.
We need resource adequacy guidelines
that support our ability to have control of our energy.
Also, Californians need a transformational energy system
based on a clean, decentralized energy model.
With regards to the PG&E plan in front of you,
you have the power and responsibility
to build an energy system that works for all of us.
And our communities have the answer
to how to build that system.
We strongly support the demands
of the Reclaim Our Power Campaign,
especially the need to have the plan to authorize
the CPUC Disadvantaged Community Advisory Committee
to lay the groundwork for the utility to replace PG&E.
And any plan should restructure PG&E's board
to shed Wall Street predators, and include the members
representative of diverse sectors,
including disadvantaged communities
and California workers.
Also in this moment of public health crisis,
vulnerable households need to be protected.
Any plan should recognize that energy is a human right
under shelter-in-place order,
where people need to use electricity
for food, work, and school, especially amidst
loss of rate payer income due to the pandemic.
Any plan should include debt forgiveness
for vulnerable household.
So please reject the plan to restructure PG&E
in front of you, unless it includes these priorities.
and supports the people of California.
Thank you very much.
-: Thank you, Crystal.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Carrie Ramirez,
Youth vs Apocalypse.
You may go ahead.
Carrie: Hello, can you hear me?
-: Speak up a little bit.
Carrie: Hi, I'm sorry.
-: That's better.
Carrie: Hello. Thank you.
My name is Carrie Ramirez.
And I am with Youth vs Apocalypse.
I am 19 years old.
Commissioners, I ask you, do you want to be good ancestors?
This is a thing that was very common in this community,
and we ask ourselves, how do we be good ancestors?
How are we going to contribute to future generations?
And how can we honor our ancestors past?
And one way that you guys can be good ancestors
is by rejecting this bailout.
By not doing so, you are (speaking faintly)
desecration of indigenous lands.
Over 160,000 acres were burned and destroyed
during the Pocket Fire, it was the deadliest wildfire
in Californian history.
And I ask you to keep that in mind as you
basically, the survivors' lives
and trauma of wildfire survivors,
disabled communities who are relying on pump managers,
communities of color, and (speaking faintly)
That was not impacted.
People were coming in asking to refill their buckets
with warm and 200 degree water so that
they could put it in their trucks
so that they had hot water that night.
And it is not my responsibility as a barista
at a small coffee shop that was not impacted
by route cutoffs by blocks,
to be giving these people warm water for the night,
it was not my responsibility as a barista
to give people a shelter where they had warm food,
a place where they had light,
where students can do homework, and I ask you.
(buzzer chiming)
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Carrie.
Operator, our next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Laura Rosenberger-Heiberger,
Residents Against Fracking.
You may go ahead.
Laura: CPUC should be the first priority.
Aging power lines should be replaced,
infrastructure should be upgraded by.
(speaking faintly) and shutoff.
Now, our indigenous fire management practices
should be implemented.
Individuals with medical needs for electrics
should be given off the grid, solar systems
with battery storage, which is becoming cheaper.
And oversight is needed.
Without oversight, for-profit companies
who continue California's fracking policy,
with layoffs of CalGEM inspectors.
And disadvantaged communities, too,
and PG&E's board must include members
of disadvantaged communities.
Thanks.
-: Thank you, Laura.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Margie Lewis with CBE.
Your line is open.
Margie: Hello? Can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can.
Margie: Okay.
Thank you very much for taking these public comments.
I'm calling to urge you to reject
this PG&E restructuring plan.
And I echo all the solutions of Reclaim Our Power Coalition.
This PG&E plan is totally inadequate.
It is dangerous, it's life threatening,
and it ensures environmental degradation.
All of this plan is just another echo
of all the poor plans that PG&E has put forward
over the years of their inadequate
use of running their business.
And so, I want to say that the definition of insanity
is doing the same thing over and over
and expecting a different result.
And that's exactly what PG&E is doing, it is insane.
You have the power to really change history,
and leave a positive legacy for California.
PG&E is incapable of putting any other plan out
than what puts profits over people.
We've that and history proves that out.
So please, we urge you, to use the power.
All the people here, have put forward
really resourceful and workable solutions.
So please use your power and protect us.
Use your legacy towards the good end.
Thank you for taking the comments.
-: Thank you, Margie.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Rebecca Foster,
with Sunrise Movement.
You may go ahead.
Rebecca: Hi. My name is Rebecca.
I'm with Sunrise and I'm also a middle school teacher.
The last couple of years, I've seen the way
that the wildfires have impacted my students
and their families and their health.
It has been devastating.
And as a young person, myself,
who hopes to have a livable future
and hopes to have children of my own,
I have hope that today you'll make the right choice
and reject the PG&E plan in favor of something
that actually puts communities first
and is a public utility, as opposed to a private utility.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Rebecca.
Operator, the next caller please.
Robert: President Batjer,
the next caller is Emily Ward,
California Democratic Executive Board (voice distorting).
Emily: Hi, folks.
Thank you for taking public comment.
My name is Emily Ward.
I'm an Executive Board Member
with the California Democratic Party.
And I wanted to speak today,
as I live in Northern California,
where a lot of my neighbors, especially in rural areas,
have had their power repeatedly shutoff,
sometimes for months.
And for folks that are able, maybe that's okay.
Maybe, you light a candle and it's fine.
For folks who are disabled that is a death sentence,
and we cannot continue to uphold profit over people's lives.
And I am calling for you to reject
this reorganization plan from PG&E,
'cause no matter, it's organization,
it is still going to uphold profit
as the sole reason to continue.
So, we really honestly need a public utility
that prioritizes our future as young people,
that prioritizes the lives of fire survivors,
of disabled people, of people who need
power to live during this crisis.
And this will not change until that happens.
So please, this is your chance.
You have one. Do the right thing. Thank you.
-: Thank you, Emily.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Isaiah Burke
with Democratic Socialists of America.
You may go ahead.
Isaiah: Hi, my name is Isaiah.
I'm a student at UC Santa Cruz,
and I organize with the DSA.
Right now, we are living in an apocalypse,
and it's not affecting everyone equally.
And you have the chance, you are,
we're standing on the precipice of disaster.
And the reason that we're in this mess
and the reason that there is so much death and destruction,
caused by PG&E is because of its for-profit status.
We need a public utility.
I urge you to reject this deal.
Please listen to the many, many young people
and principled good Californians
who are urging you to reject this deal.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Isaiah.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Magic Altman
with Power for the People.
Your line is open.
Magic: Can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can.
Magic: Hello. You've heard from our young people.
You've heard all the evidence you need to reject this plan.
It's pretty emotional, and I think that's what I would
ask you all to take a moment and put your hand on your heart
and realize that the logical mind divorced from the heart
is what can destroy us in this time.
It is compassion that has risen
to the top during this pandemic.
It is said that the principle of capitalism
and the principle of love are incompatible.
To listen to our young people,
appeal from their hearts to have a future,
you didn't have to feel that when you were their age,
I beg of you to not think that there is any rational wisdom
that you can use to explain that
you're not gonna give these young people a future.
It is impossible to not hear this heartfelt emotion.
You say at the beginning, that our input is critical.
No one is supporting this plan.
Behind each person are thousands of other people
in organizations that are begging you
to find your humanity again,
and not be another regulatory board
that approves of corporate profit over people.
This is serious, we won't have life on this planet.
Can you feel what I'm saying?
Can you feel the young people appealing for a future,
afraid that they won't even have a life?
Have children, have grandchildren?
Please, I beg of you, feel this in your heart,
in your body, and use your mind to serve that heart.
Otherwise we're all lost if we don't do this.
All of us on this planet must have our minds serve our heart
and not separately and logically figure out
how to continue this horrible destruction.
-: Thank you, Magic.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Benjamin Holme,
with Sunrise Movement.
You may go ahead.
Benjamin: Hi.
I'm here calling in from a community garden
on Atsugewi Ohlone land.
And I just want to,
I know the commission has been hearing from a lot of people.
And everything that needs to be said has really been said.
But I want to remind them that we, as a people
are facing an unprecedented crisis right now.
And it's only gonna get worse as our lives go on.
And so we need to take a step, take a deep breath,
and take bold action to address that crisis
at the scale of that crisis.
And right now that means rejecting this deal.
And that means making PG&E a public utility,
which means that it's no longer being hampered
by a value system that puts profit over people,
because as so many other people have so eloquently said,
that is the root of this problem, and until that changes,
we, the people of California, will not be served by PG&E.
I urge you to reject this deal.
I echo all the demands of Reclaim Our Power
and all the people who couldn't be here today to speak.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Benjamin.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Zach Blumenstein
with Democratic Socialists of America.
Your line is open.
Zach: Good morning, commissioners.
Thanks for the opportunity to speak.
I'm Zach Blumenstein.
I'm with the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America.
I want to,
we've heard from so many people about how the profit motive
has led to untold death and destruction by this company.
How previous reorganizations and attempted oversight
have been Band-Aids on a problem.
And how this current plan is yet another Band-Aid.
The drive for profit, which prevents genuine oversight
and prevents using funds to actually make
the needed improvements to power lines
and infrastructure is killing people.
It is continuing to drive climate change
by causing wildfires that pump carbon into the atmosphere.
And it is, with shutoffs and pollution,
frontline communities are being harmed even further.
So I urge you, commissioners, to reject this plan.
And I amplify all the demands of Reclaim Our Power.
Let's bring energy democracy.
We don't really have a choice for combating climate change.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Zach.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Elizabeth Navarro,
Youth vs Apocalypse.
Your line is open.
Elizabeth: Hello? Can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can. Speak up just a little bit, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth: Okay. Hi, everyone.
My name is Elizabeth, and I'm 15 years old.
I'm here with Youth vs Apocalypse.
We need a different PG&E because this isn't really working
for the community, and they have the responsibility
to build an energy system that works for all of us.
If you're going to bail them out,
Californians need to be protected.
That they're paying for PG&E is wrong.
We can't allow PG&E to continue ignoring
the communities' needs and treating us as disposable.
We need true safety from wildfires, smoke, and shutoffs
caused by energy utilities.
Those most vulnerable and at-risk need to be protected
and those impacted need to be compensated
for the damages caused by this company.
We also need an energy system
that is clean and decentralized.
They failed to address public safety, so I echo the demands
of the Reclaim Our Power Campaign.
This deal must put the needs of the community first.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Elizabeth.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Carolyn Norr,
with Youth vs Apocalypse.
You can go ahead.
Carolyn: Hello? Can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can.
Carolyn: Okay, great.
So I'm an adult supporter for Youth vs Apocalypse.
I work with all the many young people who have spoken today,
and many, many more who weren't able to join this call.
I'm also the parent of two children in elementary school.
and I'm calling to echo the demands
of their Reclaim Our Power Collective,
and everything that's already been spoken.
And also to really urge you to take this moment of upheaval,
to be really bold and to do something new and different.
We are recognizing in this crisis,
in the public health crisis and the climate crisis,
that we're in right now,
that the profit motive is not working.
It's hurting those most vulnerable in our society,
those treated with injustice at many levels,
and that makes all of us unsafe.
We need to build something that
is actually designed to take care of people.
That won't work if PG&E is accountable
to their shareholders.
We need to make our energy system accountable to the people
and to those that are most vulnerable in our system.
Energy is a human right, especially in this time,
and we need to create a radically new system.
So I urge you to take this moment
to think about what's possible,
what's actually needed for these young people,
for my children, and to be bold.
Thank you for listening.
-: Thank you, Carolyn.
Operator, the next caller please.
Robert: Our next caller is Garima Raheja
from the University of California, Berkeley.
Garima: Hi, good morning commissioners.
My name is Garima Raheja. I am 23 years old.
I am an air pollution researcher with UC Berkeley
and I organize with Sunrise Movement.
I have to go to class and work during the wildfires
time and time again, and PG&E's mistakes
have caused harm to my own health many times.
I'm calling to oppose the PG&E's restructuring plan.
I believe that in this moment of public health crisis,
with over 800,000 deaths caused by the coronavirus,
millions of jobs lost, and income sources destroyed,
I believe in this time that vulnerable households
need to be protected, not pressured.
Any plans should recognize that energy is a human right,
under shelter-in-place orders, where people
need to use electricity for food, work, and school,
especially in response to rate payer income
due to the pandemic.
Any plan should include debt forgiveness
for vulnerable households.
I echo the demands of the Reclaim Our Power Movement.
Any PG&E deal needs to put the needs of fire survivors
and the public first, or it must be rejected.
Thank you for your time.
-: Thank you, Garima.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Kieran Ward
with the Sunset Movement.
Your line is open.
Kieran: Hi, there.
So, my name's Kieran Ward and I represent myself.
I was born and raised in Santa Clara County
and I strongly feel that the for-profit business model
of a private PG&E would likely cause
more harm to other people.
Under a for-profit business model,
profits are more important of a factor
and consumer happiness is second fiddle,
unless consumer happiness can raise profits,
making PG&E unlikely to respond
to most preventable disasters as fast as they could
because due to a profit concern.
Usually private companies are that way
to breed innovation via competition,
but PG&E doesn't really have any competition,
for good reason, because of what
an abundance of power lines would cause.
But seemingly no, they don't really have a reason
to stay as a private entity rather than a public utility.
I would rather a regulated system,
whose main concern is not profits,
to be the regulator of such an important part
of our everyday lives like energy.
I also would urge you guys to consider
everything that everyone else has said.
And I have not heard a single person say yes,
we should keep, we should bail out PG&E, yet.
So, thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Natalie Tam,
Youth vs Apocalypse.
You may go ahead.
Natalie: Hello, my name is Natalie Tam.
I am 16 years old from Youth vs Apocalypse.
And I don't know about you, but I like to breathe,
and I enjoy being alive.
The fires caused by PG&E have made life
very difficult for many people.
And you guys have the power to make a difference
and protect our homes.
Please, please, don't let PG&E get away
with what they have done to people and our beautiful earth.
Imagine your kids or grandchildren
not being able to breathe fresh air or simply enjoy nature.
Think about your loved ones, your mom, dad, husband, wife,
children, or maybe your younger brother who annoys you,
when you make a decision.
Thank you.
And I hope you will do what is right,
because future generations are relying on you.
-: Thank you, Natalie.
Next caller please, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Anne Hardy,
Climate Action Now.
You may go ahead.
Anne: Hi, my name is Anne Hardy.
I'm a family doctor.
I'm a PG&E rate payer and a customer
of East Bay Community Energy.
And I'm a member of Climate Health Now,
which is an organization of healthcare
and public health professionals
who recognize that global heating
is the greatest public health emergency
that humankind has ever faced.
PG&E deserves no more chances.
It has failed to protect public safety
and to address climate change.
The CPUC plan should include a swift,
transparent, and equitable transition
to an ownership model accountable to rate payers,
workers, and the communities most impacted
by utility related air and water pollution,
deadly excessive heat days,
and the history and or highest risk of wildfires,
gas line explosions, and other catastrophes,
As well as harm during power shutoffs,
and also the young who are gonna have to live
with the consequences for longer.
I support all of the common sense and reasonable proposals
of the Reclaim Our Power Campaign.
And thank you very much.
-: Thank you, Anne.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Darryl Gale.
She is a Los Angeles resident (voice distorting).
Go ahead.
Darryl: Hello, Commissioners.
For myself and the people of California,
we cannot tolerate another wildfire,
city or rural area burn, massive death toll,
or a sloppy shutoff program,
killing people connected to medical devices.
This is due to a corporate PG&E culture
of pandering only to their stakeholders.
Reject this plan.
Instead we need monitoring and replacing aging power lines,
active fire management practices
and protection for medically vulnerable people.
The CPUC plan must include accountability
and oversight with independent monitoring.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Justin Bogda,
Communities for a Better Environment.
You may go ahead.
Justin: Hi, can you hear me?
-: Yes we can.
Justin: Hi, my name is Justin,
and I'm with Communities for a Better Environment.
We need a different PG&E because its model
does not represent rate payers, fire survivors,
and the most vulnerable communities in California.
And rather than addressing those needs,
the reorganization plan will just continue
to disadvantage vulnerable communities in California
in the same way it has in the past,
rather than taking the opportunity that we have
to make real transformational change
that will work for everyone.
I urge you, along with everyone else,
to reject the reorganization plan,
unless it includes key components
that are essential for an energy transition
and addressing dangers from fires.
So first, Californians need true safety
from utility caused fires.
Any plan should institute strong wildfire
safety metrics and robust requirements
for utility wildfire mitigation plans.
This should include replacing aged power lines,
upgrades to immediately de-energize
infrastructure upon failure,
as well as implementing indigenous
fire management practices.
Any plan should institute extremely
careful handling of power shuttles,
with the most impacted communities meaningfully included
in the decisions to shutoff or not.
Additionally, in this moment of public health crisis,
vulnerable households need to be protected.
The plan should recognize that energy is a human right
under shelter-in-place orders, where people need to use
electricity for food, work, and school, and any plan
should include debt forgiveness for vulnerable households.
Thank you.
I stand with Reclaim Our Power.
-: Thank you, Justin.
The next caller please, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Dulce Arias
with Youth vs Apocalypse
You may go ahead.
Dulce: Hi, my name is Dulce.
I'm part of Youth vs Apocalypse.
I live in Ohlone Territory.
And I am here to oppose PG&E's bail out
and echo the Reclaim Our Power
Utility Justice Campaign sentiments.
Rate payers, our communities,
have already paid for PG&E's failure of public safety.
We've paid the consequences.
That was not enough.
They made it our responsibility to provide mutual aid
for communities affected by the wildfires.
PG&E apparently couldn't take full charge
of the responsibility and be held accountable.
Our families lost so much due to the fires.
Not everyone has the means and resources
to get back on their feet and live life like they once did.
And now, you want our families to bail out a company
that did not bail out our community?
Haven't PG&E done so much harm to us already?
It's not just. That is unfair and a crime.
A crime.
Rate payers need to be protected
and not forced to pay for failures of PG&E.
Any class should be amended to ensure
true rate payers neutrality.
No additional charges should be added
to rate payers' bills for repayment of bonds,
as was done in PG&E's previous
Chapter 11 bankruptcy settlement.
PG&E is nothing without those individuals
paying for PG&E's services.
And if rate payers are forced to pay PG&E's bankruptcy debt,
then rate payers should be given a share of ownership
of the company to make decisions about its finances.
Thank you for listening.
-: Thank you, Dulce.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Leslie Sherman,
Democratic Socialists of America.
You may go ahead.
Leslie: Hi, thank you for allowing me to speak today.
My name is Leslie Sherman.
I live in Sunnyvale, California,
and I'm a member of the Silicon Valley DSA.
You said public input is integral
to what you do here at the CPUC,
so I'd like to give you the opportunity
to prove you're listening.
I know it's on a delay, but can I get a thumbs up
from any commissioner who's listening on the webcast?
Because I saw at least one of you start
swiping on your pink phone.
I'm sorry your bored, but people lives were lost.
I am a therapist working primarily
with low income students of color,
and my clients and their communities
are most likely to be affected by energy inequality
and harmed by PG&E's choices.
Please vote no on PG&E's restructuring plan.
They have repeatedly shown us
that they will always put profits over people.
Profits are not worth more than human life.
We cannot allow them to keep weaseling out of consequences.
If you approve their plan, the blood of the next people
who die because of PG&E's callous
irresponsibility and neglect will be on your hands.
Californians deserve safety.
And we want independent democratic oversight of our utility.
I support a public utility that will ensure
energy access for all, and that profits
will never be prioritized over people's lives again.
Please do the right thing.
Thank you for your time.
-: Thank you, Leslie.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Nicole Steiner,
with SELS, the line is open.
Nicole: My name is Nicole Steiner and I represent myself.
And as a resident of both Santa Clara
and Santa Cruz counties, I'd like the commission
to consider fire safety in our state.
According to statistics
from the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,
nine of the 10 largest wildfires
in California's known history occurred in the last 20 years.
Since the latter half of the year during
which all nine of said fires happened, approaching,
I believe the commission should seriously consider
whether a for-profit energy model
that Pacific Gas and Electric would naturally pursue
as an uncontested private company,
can be and has been able to be,
trusted to truly act responsibly
in the way of preventing fire damage
caused by their privately owned infrastructure.
Thank you for your time.
California forever.
-: Thank you, Nicole.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Vivian Dai
with Silicon Valley DSA.
You may go ahead.
Vivian: Can everyone hear me?
-: Yes we can.
Vivian: Great, well I hope you're having
a great day, Commissioners.
I, along with all my other comrades in Silicon Valley, USA,
am calling to let you know that I do not support
approving the PG&E plan to exit bankruptcy.
PG&E has shown repeatedly in the past
that it profits not with the rate payers
of the state of California, but at our expense.
And they will continue to do this
under this plan to exit bankruptcy.
Californians will only be able to benefit
from the utility they democratically oversee.
If this PG&E plan is approved, they will continue
their current lack of transparency.
And this will lead to more and more accidents
like the Camp Fire, the Quail Fire, et cetera, et cetera,
as we've seen in the last fire season that took
so many lives and destroyed so many people's houses.
So, I urge you to reject this plan
so that California can democratically oversee
a public utility instead of the current corporation
that is PG&E that has cost so many lives already.
Thank you for your time.
-: Thank you very much.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next question is Simone Maganelli,
with San Francisco Residents.
You may proceed.
Simone: Hi, my name is Simone Manganelli.
I'm a resident of San Francisco.
I have lived in the Bay Area my whole life.
I'm pretty tired.
I have been coming to the CPUC Commission meetings
for months now on PG&E.
And we've been asking you to reformulate PG&E
into a public utility for months,
and years before the current campaign.
And we're tired of constantly asking
and constantly asking and having the CPUC ignore
the tens and hundreds of comments.
You've heard all the comments on the call right now.
As a previous commenter mentioned,
not a single one of them has been in support
of the reorganization plan of PG&E.
And I am similarly calling on all commissioners
to reject this reorganization plan.
I remember when I was a kid, my dad used to call PG&E
pigs, gluttons and extortionists,
and PG&E hasn't changed in its entire history.
It filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
The San Bruno gas explosion happened 2010.
The wildfires have been happening for the past years.
Why do you expect that PG&E is going to change
just based on a few little tweaks to it's business model?
It needs to be fundamentally changed.
It needs to be made into a public utility,
accountable to the citizens of California.
Profit cannot be a part of PG&E's model.
It needs to be a public utility.
And I'm calling on the commissioners
to reject the reorganization of PG&E.
Thanks.
-: Thank you, Simone.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Noah Foley-Beining
with Sunrise Movement, you may go ahead.
Noah: Hi, yeah, my name is Noah.
In the past several years, twice now,
I've gone to sleep certain that my hometown
is gonna be burned down.
Going to sleep worried that my parents might be caught
sleeping and not make it out like many others have.
I've had friends lose their homes,
one even having to run on foot to escape a fire.
I think that we all, growing up, heard Smokey the Bear
say that only you can prevent forest fires, right?
Well, the way that we prevent forest fires
is by taking power away from PG&E
and giving it to the people.
I insist that you demand,
I insist that you implement the demands
of Reclaim Our Power.
Customers need rigorous, independent,
democratic oversight of the utility.
We needed a transformational energy system
based on the clean, decentralized energy models.
I hope that you're willing to listen
to all the people calling today.
Thanks.
-: Thank you, Noah.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is John Douglas
with DSA Santa Barbara chapter.
You may go ahead.
John: Thank you very much
for the opportunity to address you.
I've been amazed at how articulate
and incisive the comments have been,
particularly from the young people
in Youth vs Apocalypse and Sunrise.
Even though we're down in Edison territory
here in Santa Barbara, we are still affected by PG&E
because we are downwind from
the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant,
which only will take a little earthquake
and flood us with radiation.
However, I'm calling today to urge you
to reject PG&E's bankruptcy plan.
This is a recidivous, felonious corporation
that does not deserve to be given yet another chance
to mess up people's lives and to kill people.
They've proven over and over again
that they are irresponsible and always go
for short term profit over the health and safety
of rate payers in its territory.
You must decide, as commissioners,
decide whose side you're on,
the people or wealthy investors on Wall Street?
So I urge you to reject this bankruptcy plan
and instead to recommend to the governor
that all assets of PG&E be seized
and it converted into a public utility
subject to the oversight (buzzer chiming)
and the benefit of the rate payers
and tax payers of California.
Thank you very much.
-: Thank you, John.
Operator, our next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Nishi Sheorey,
with Reclaim Our Power and DSA San Francisco.
You may go ahead.
Nishi: Hello, can you hear me?
-: We can.
Nishi: Cool.
Good morning, Commissioners, and thank you for your time.
My name is Nishi Sheorey and I'm an organizer
with the Reclaim Our Power Campaign, as well as our chapter
of the Democratic Socialists of America.
And so you have a major decision to make today
that will impact the lives of millions of Californians.
You have the power and the opportunity today
to act in the interest of our communities.
And I urge you to do so by rejecting
PG&E's proposed plan of reorganization.
We are in a time of increasing crisis,
with a pandemic, the resulting economic fallout,
and increasingly devastating fire seasons
that herald the climate crisis.
In these times it is more crucial than ever
that Californians not be further burdened and endangered,
but that is exactly what this plan will do
without fundamentally changing anything,
meaning we'll be right back here again in the near future.
We need an energy system in California
that is able to provide energy for rate payers in a way
that prioritizes safety, justice, and ecosystem health,
not profit and not shareholder returns.
PG&E has repeatedly demonstrated
that they do not act in good faith
and cannot provide that system.
They've repeatedly prioritized profit
at the expense of all life,
both in the short term and in the long term.
They have proven they cannot be trusted
with the control of our energy infrastructures.
Instead, Californians must have that control for ourselves.
We need a fundamentally different energy system.
One that is accountable to rate payers,
frontline communities, and workers.
One that does not come out and defy
the basic human need that is access to energy.
One that is based on clean, renewable energy production
that is decentralized, both in structure and in governance.
One that keeps us safe.
Transforming our energy system to one that truly acts
in the interest of Californians is certainly a complex task.
But the first step is clear. Reject this deal.
(buzzer chiming)
Thank you for your time, and I hope you reject this deal.
-: Thank you, Nishi.
Operator, next caller, speaker?
Operator: Our next speaker is (audio distorting),
with Democratic Socialists of America.
Your line is open.
Speaker: Hello, good morning,
fellow citizens and councilors.
I'm calling to tell you to reject PG&E's restructuring plan.
As long as PG&E is run for profit there'll be more fires,
more discouraging news, and more deaths.
This is the fact as embraceable as the tide.
Proper maintenance means less profit for shareholders.
Serving disadvantaged communities to the proper standards
means less profit for shareholders.
In the long term and the short term,
prioritizing profit over people
will lead to worse outcomes for our communities.
This is not even mentioned, the looming climate catastrophe,
which will make every fire more severe,
every disaster compounded,
every tragedy exponentially worse.
We as Californians,
have a once in a generation opportunity
to provide energy in a democratic fashion,
and a public utility that serves everyone.
You can drastically improve the lives
of hundreds of thousands of people
if you simply have the will.
Please reject this restructuring program
and allow Californians be served
with a democratic, clean energy utility.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Alfred Tu,
and he represents himself.
You may go ahead.
Alfred: Hi, good morning.
I'm calling in as a PG&E customer
and resident of Alameda County.
Please reject the restructuring.
PG&E has no business being a private business.
It will only continue the cycle of Wall Street
profiting at the expensive of California.
We need to make PG&E into a public utility.
As a public utility, it would have lower borrowing costs
and be better able to invest in fire safety
without making electricity unaffordable.
We should not let Wall Street lenders make excess profits
from the rebuilding of our electrical system.
Please make PG&E public. Thank you.
-: Thank you, Alfred.
Operator, our next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Sarah Singer with DSA.
You may go ahead.
Sarah: Hi, can you hear me?
-: Yes we can.
Sarah: All right.
My name is Sarah Singer and I am with the DSA.
And I think that
you don't need to use your heart
to know logically that this is a situation
that only benefits a few people at the top.
That if PG&E was a person, they'd be in jail.
The fact that they can pull in all the profits
and turn over all of the costs to us isn't capitalism.
It's a monopoly and forced by the government.
Now we've trusted the government for a long time
to run oversight on these folks.
And we have dead people on our hands.
You have dead people on your hands.
And you have a chance now to be a hero
and save all the people's livelihoods and their homes
from going up in another blaze of smoke,
from elderly people dying so that a few people
at the top to make money.
And why, because we don't want to bother
with the infrastructure that it would require
to turn this into a public utility?
It just sounds like it would be laziness
to not make the switch.
I hope that we can trust you to do the right thing,
the logical thing, the thing that benefits the most people.
And if not, then we'll have to learn
who else we gotta apply pressure to.
Is it your bosses?
Do we need to change the folks on this committee?
What needs to happen so that more Californians don't die
and then have to pay PG&E money for that privilege?
I hope you're all heroes.
I hope you save those folks
and their homes and their animals.
I don't think you need to feel this in your heart.
I think you need to feel it logistically,
and logistically, we'd rather not make it painful for you.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Sarah.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Helena Beretski,
with Sunrise Movement.
You may go ahead.
Helena: Hello, thank you, Commissioners.
I echo everyone else's reasons for why you should oppose
the PG&E plan in front of you.
Also, the CPUC mission is, I quote,
"We empower California through access to safe,
"clean, affordable utility services and infrastructure."
And your vision commits the CPUC to better
the lives of all Californians, all Californians.
Please use your leadership and courage
to uphold your mission and vision.
Reject the PG&E plan unless it is amended
to clearly lead to the transformed,
decentralized clean energy system we need
to protect public health and people's lives and livelihoods.
A better alternative does exist.
To rely on some large power plants
with long transmission lines, which increase wildfires,
and the need to shutoff power to millions.
Remember the Kincaid Fire last year started
despite days long preventative power shutoffs.
During those same shutoffs, though,
the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe in Humboldt
kept the lights on with their solar and storage microgrid
and helped thousands of their neighbors
from the county meet essential needs too.
Microgrids powered by renewable energy
could keep basic power on throughout PG&E service area,
but PG&E won't seriously invest in them because,
as everybody else said, they're an investor-owned utility.
It's cheaper for PG&E to shut the power off.
They don't care about the cost to residents
in spoiled food, lost wages, when their workplace closes,
and potentially lives if they have
electrically dependent medical equipment.
The CPUC decision today can let PG&E off the hook
(buzzer chiming) or it can demand PG&E
accountability to at-risk communities.
You have lives in your hands.
I echo the demands of Reclaim Our Power.
Any PG&E deal needs to put the needs of fire survivors
and the public first, or it must be rejected.
Thank you so much for caring.
-: Thank you.
Next caller please, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Melissa Shuen-Mallory
with Southern Alameda County Progressive Democrats.
You may go ahead.
Melissa: First of all, can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can.
Melissa: Okay.
Thank you, Commissioners, for your time,
and for listening to my comments.
My name is Melissa Shuen-Mallory.
I am the Chair
of the Southern Alameda County Progressive Democrats
I live in the Bay Area on Ohlone territorial land.
And I urge you to reject this PG&E plan.
PG&E has prioritized profits over rate payer safety
for years, and they have ignored our failing grade.
The current restructuring plan
puts the burden on the rate payers to take up PG&E's estate.
This plan is not honor the suffering of wildfire survivors,
our communities, and rate payers.
The current plan has nothing to help our environment
and avoid the catastrophic effects of global warming.
Please redact the PG&E plan in any form
that does not include public ownership,
clean and decentralized energy, and democratic oversight.
The time is now to do the right thing
and put people over profit.
Repair our failing infrastructure.
Please do the right thing and vote no today.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Vickia Brinkley
with True Faith Community Baptist Church.
You may go ahead.
Vickia: Thank you, Commissioners,
for hearing from me today,
I represent TURN at True Faith Community Baptist Church
and the Antioch Brentwood Community.
I'm speaking today to support the protections
outlined in the proposed decisions.
And we reject the PG&E reorganization plan.
These protections outline, support the ability
to support the most vulnerable people in our communities
and their right to have life-giving energy and power,
needed to have just basic human comfort and living.
In a community where these temperatures
exceed sometimes 100 degrees, like today,
and dip in the thirties in the winter,
climate control, access to power is a necessity.
It's not a luxury.
Our seniors and our children are not being considered
in the greed associated with unreasonable rates
and practices that prevent them from accessing power,
and therefore their ability to participate in society
in an informed manner through internet access.
And it is critical that we protect
the basic right to power, medical equipment,
and maintain comfortable living temperatures.
Our children are impacted when their education is halted
through their inability to connect.
Families are impacted by forced co-housing due to PG&E's
shutoffs and unreasonable payment plan arrangements.
There's not a church anywhere that can support
financially and through benevolence,
the communities need to meet these exorbitant rates.
And we have to now then deconstruct the structure.
So therefore we ask you to support,
and we ask your support, to stand against PG&E
and reject their plans, which continue
to put profit above safety and community health.
Thanks so much for listening.
(buzzer chiming)
-: Thank you, Vickia.
The next caller please, operator?
Operator: Our next caller is Kylan Patterson
with 100 Black Men of the Bay Area.
You may go ahead.
Kylan: Good morning, Commissioners.
Thank you for taking my comment.
I wanted to comment on the fact
that I also reject the restructuring plan for PG&E.
I'm speaking as a taxpayer, as a homeowner,
as a father who wants to see a better world,
a cleaner world for his children and his grandchildren.
PG&E has had countless opportunities
to invest in critical infrastructure
to the benefit of the public at large, and yet chose
to pay out their shareholders in the form of dividends,
and pay their executives in the form of bonuses,
while people died, and rate payers like myself,
paid not only with treasure,
but in the blood of people throughout the Bay Area.
My recommendation for the commission
is to reject this bankruptcy reauthorization
and truly turn PG&E into a publicly owned utility,
where we could invest in the infrastructure of the future,
and furthermore, create an economy that will actually
benefit the people of California for generations to come.
Why should we cede creativity and green energy
to the Germans, to the Swedes, to the Swiss?
When here in the United States of America,
here in California, we can have the energy infrastructure
of the future that will create, tens of thousands of jobs
and actually have a sustainable planet.
And so again, I want the PUC to actually be
the public utilities commission,
and not the corporate utilities commission.
No more bailouts for irresponsible behavior.
No more cycle of insanity by having the same thing happen,
expecting a different result.
Let's make the different result with our actions.
Let's make a different result for the future.
And let's do this now.
And you will be looked on in the history of California
of doing the right thing.
Thank you for your time.
-: Thank you for your time, thank you.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Annie Koruga,
with Democratic Socialists of America.
You may go ahead.
Annie: Yes, thank you, Commissioners.
Okay, first please pay attention to the comments
and stop looking so bored.
Now, you've heard for months how the PG&E plan
in front of you does not work for rate payers,
fire survivors, our communities, or the climate.
I urge you to vote no on this plan.
You have the power and the responsibility
to build an energy system that works for all of us.
PG&E has proven time and time and time again,
from San Bruno to Paradise,
that our safety is the least of their concerns.
And that they will put profits over our safety.
PG&E is irresponsible.
The last time it performed inspection on the lines
that failed later, later burning down Paradise, was 2001.
Reject any plan which keeps in place a for-profit utility.
Until the profit motive is removed, the energy grid
will remain unsafe for communities
because the underlying motivations,
which put profit over our lives, remain the same.
We all know that allowing PG&E
to continue to exist is a bad idea.
Do you wonder why 100% of these comments are against PG&E?
Furthermore, there are credible reports the process
by which fire survivors vote on this plan
has been an undemocratic sham, where people receive
their voting materials late or not at all.
PG&E is also an undemocratic sham.
Do not allow them to continue to exist,
to burn down our towns and blow up our city.
If you do, there's blood on your hands, seriously.
You either vote no, or you want people to die.
Do you really want to protect murderers?
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Fabiola Lao,
for Center for Sustainable Energy.
You may go ahead.
Fabiola: Hi, can you hear me?
-: Yes, we can.
Fabiola: Okay, great.
Thank you, President and Commissioners,
for the opportunity to speak.
My name is Fabiola Lao, Senior Equity Policy Manager
with the Center for Sustainable Energy.
I'd like to express our support
for the appointment of Roman Partida-Lopez
to the Disadvantaged Communities Advisory Group.
Roman is a well-respected equity
and social justice contributor across the state,
and in particular, the San Diego region.
And I've seen firsthand his commitment to ensuring
that the needs of disadvantaged and low income communities
are front and center in policymaking.
So from that he'll be an invaluable contributor
to the DACAG, so thank you for your time.
-: Thank you for your time.
Anne, or excuse me, operator,
I think we have a next caller then.
Operator: Ben Schwartz with Clean Coalition.
You may go ahead
And again, Ben Schwartz, your line is open.
Ben: Hello.
Good morning, Commissioners and Chair.
I just wanted to start by saying
that the Clean Coalition supports Reclaim Our Power
and believes that trying to get a more sectionalized grid
and a distribution system operator
is the future of the California grid.
And that means collaborating between the utilities
and stakeholders and the commission.
In this case, I'm asking that the commission
reject the PG&E reorganization plan.
That being said, the main thing I wanted to comment on today
is agenda item 34 on the de-energization plans.
Specifically, I want to suggest
that community resource centers are a great idea,
but if they're going to be available
for rate payers, they should be available
for the entire duration of a PSPS event.
We agree with parties such as Santa Clara County,
which suggests these centers should be
sited in public locations.
And also believe that these centers
should take advantage of existing resources
to ensure that they provide the most quality,
protection for vulnerable populations,
and also that they can use grid isolation
so that there is indeed electricity during an outage.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is a Gregory Young
with Clean Coalition, you may go ahead.
Gregory: Hello, dear Commissioners and the public.
Thank you for taking public comment today.
And I hope everyone and their families are doing well
during this unprecedented time.
My name is Gregory Young with the Clean Coalition.
I comments today are in regards to agenda item number 34,
Phase 2 Updated and Additional Guidelines
for De-Energization of Power Lines in Dangerous Conditions.
We support Cal Advocates in suggesting
that detailed PSPS maps should be made available
in the morning periods before one starts.
We also suggest that accurate public maps
of past PSPS events are made available
by an interactive map of sorts
and also by a downloadable GIS data files.
Among the numerous resulting benefits of this.
It would help planners, homeowners,
and rural energy developers in their ability
to locate areas that have the potential
to receive the Resilience SGIP Incentives
due to having their electricity shutoff
during two or more discrete PSPS events.
All such information should be
made available on an easy to use website.
Ideally a single website should include this information
for all three IOUs and the public should not have to search
across different websites for such information.
Moreover it would be beneficial if the IOU reported
the critical facilities that might be affected
in the next PSPS location or the one that is being warned.
Thank you much for your time.
-: Thank you for your time.
Operator, next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Benjamin Zink
with East Bay Democratic Socialists of America.
You may go ahead.
And again, Benjamin Zink, your line is open.
Benjamin: Hi, thank you.
Again, my name is Benjamin Zink,
I'm with the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America.
Thank you for hearing our comments.
I understand that there's a lot of pressure
to wrap up the PG&E reorganization given all the concerns
around COVID and it's disheartening to see the governor
take a softer stance now that we have this health crisis,
but it's understandable.
What I want to emphasize is that these aren't
separate problems, they're deeply connected.
Shelter-in-place in the midst of a wildfire season
and power shutoffs is gonna be a nightmare.
And we know very clearly that we can't trust
PG&E to take care of us.
That's been shown time and time again.
And so I think it's even more critical now
that we take a hard stance on this issue.
I think it's really important that we not compromise
the safety of our citizens.
It's gonna overwhelm our healthcare system
to an incredible degree if we have both
a pandemic and huge problems with fires and smoke.
And I really urge you to work towards
a better solution that doesn't include PG&E,
who we very clearly can't count on.
Thank you.
-: Thank you.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Audrey Ichinose,
with East Bay Community Energy Alliance.
You may go ahead.
Audrey: Thank you very much.
My name is Audrey Ichinose.
And I am a member of East Bay Clean Power Alliance
and the statewide California Alliance for Community Energy.
I also am speaking about the reorganization.
In these times of great losses,
let's take stock of what we do have as Californians.
We have 19 healthy, popular functioning CCAs,
with two more on the way.
And one of those two is BU Clean Energy,
which begins next year.
Yes, Butte County, home to the devastated town of Paradise.
Now CCAs, VCCAs, and we should include
all the municipal utilities in California,
of which there are so many.
They all share three things going for them.
Transparency and community, they're community run.
Secondly, they're innovative, as they support
many of the local renewable energy projects.
And thirdly, they're anchored in the local economies,
providing affordable electricity
to residential and CNI customers.
And mainly they build broad tax bases,
which help to fund schools and community institutions,
and of course fund more local growth and innovation.
So, what does these CCAs and Munis really need?
These building blocks of a new energy infrastructure?
They need a secure, hardened, high-frequency,
transmission grid. (buzzer chiming)
I'm sorry.
So, anyway, what we need is a better restructuring of PG&E.
Thank you so much.
-: Thank you, Audrey.
Operator, the next caller please.
Operator: Our next caller is Michael Aguirre,
with Aguirre & Severson.
Your line is open.
Michael: Thank you. Good morning, everyone.
You probably don't remember this,
but I have actually been fighting
with the CPUC for about 11 years now.
And it's been quite an experience.
But along the way, I remember the day that I picked up
the decision in the San Diego Gas and Electric case,
and saw under Commissioner Randolph
that the two brave administrative law judges said no
to SDG&E because they had not proven prudence
in connection with recovering
their uninsured wildfire costs in 2007.
And it was just so gratifying to represent
the forgotten utility customers.
Years before that, when I represented
the forgotten farm workers,
and I recognize Commissioner Guzman Aceves
and Commissioner Shiroma, who I'm sure that has
a special place in your heart.
When I took up their cause and fought for the farm workers
in Yuma in 1993 against tremendous odds,
and we were able to turn back the growers
and save the farm workers union.
it was an amazing experience.
The feeling of gratification.
It reminds me of something that Robert Kennedy said.
No, I'm speaking. I'm speaking.
It reminds me of something that Robert Kennedy said
when he spoke in South Africa,
in which he spoke out and said,
"Each time a person stands up for a principle
"or strikes out against injustice,
"they send forth a tiny ripple of hope."
And that's what you have the ability to do.
I mean, yes, you've all been talked to,
the governor's office, everybody knows what the deal is.
It's all, (buzzer chiming)
the cake has been baked.
But just think about, think about this.
If you were to come back and say,
"We want to look for some other alternatives.
"The idea that PG&E is gonna be able to pay,
"raise enough money to pay for all the debt
"that they're creating, and then also raise more money
"in order to make the infrastructure improvements."
That really isn't a workable plan.
Maybe it would be better to have them sell off their assets.
pay off whatever obligations they can with those assets,
that's what they do in Chapter 11,
and reorganize PG&E into the eight components
that it has been divided into by the CAISO.
So they've already been divided into eight separate areas.
And you could sell off their assets.
You know, you've got SB-350,
which is gonna put a receiver in there
if they don't come through.
But why do it that way?
Why continue down this road?
When you don't need to.
And think about how happy,
think about how happy you will make
the people of the Bay Area, and the customers of PG&E,
if you were to do what Robert Kennedy said,
which is to stand up and strike out
and send forth a tiny ripple of hope
to all the people in this community.
I know, whether you're listening to me,
whether you're thinking with your heart,
or thinking just with expediency.
-: Michael, you're over your time, Mr. Aguirre.
I'm so sorry, you're over your time, you're well over.
Michael: Oh, that's fine, sorry,
no, that was my fault, please, forgive me.
I didn't realize, Let me stop right there then.
Thank you so much for listening to me. Sorry I went over.
-: Thank you.
Operator, are there any other callers on the line?
Operator: I show no other callers online at this time.
-: Okay, thank you very much for sharing that operator.
Public Advisor Brown, are there any emails from the public?
Allison: Good morning, President Batjer.
Yes there are.
In today's meeting we received three different form letters
from several people before the 10 o'clock deadline.
I would also like to note, we received many of these
after previous meetings as well.
Also, we've received several email comments
from people who were able to comment over the phone
or submitted identical comments at prior meetings.
So pursuant to our rules, I will not read those.
The first form letter we received
from over 30 people, and it reads:
"Commissioners and Governor Newsome."
Yeah, can you hear me all right?
-: One second. I just want to mention,
for those emails that came in at a different time
or not at the right time, they will be distributed
to the commissioners so we all will be able
to see and read them, so thank you.
-: Yeah. -: Of course.
Allison: Sure, so it reads:
"Commissioners and Governor Newsome.
"I support the Reclaim Our Power Utility Justice Campaign's
"demands for a PG&E bankruptcy deal
"that works for the people of California, not Wall Street.
"The CPUC administrative law judge's
"proposed decision does not live up
"to what Californians need for their energy system.
"Californians need true safety from fires, smoke,
"and shutoffs, including having impacted communities
"at the decision table about if,
"when, and how the power is shut off.
"We shouldn't be forced to pay for PG&E's failures.
"All debt repayment should be
"included in the plan, not hidden,
"and savings should benefit rate payers, not shareholders.
"Further, in this moment of public health crisis
"and income loss, the commission
"must acknowledge energy as a human right,
"and forgive the debts of all those
"unable to pay for utility service.
"Impacted communities, including fire survivors,
"need to be compensated immediately in cash,
"not with volatile PG&E stock that is tied up in a trust
"that claimants themselves cannot control.
"Any bankruptcy deal that this commission approves
"must have true accountability,
"including a fully independent monitor
"selected by and reporting to the legislature
"with full access to utility operations.
"This monitor must be empowered to expediently
"and transparently reject PG&E's business license
"and transmission to a new energy model.
"Any deal that this commission approves
"should use every opportunity to transform our system,
"to clean distributed energy and sustainable future,
"including pushing for investments
"in local renewable resources and a permanent retirement
"of fossil fuel and nuclear infrastructure.
"Any deal that this commission approves
"must meaningfully include workers,
"fire survivors, people with disabilities,
"and environmental justice communities on the board
"and other decision making bodies.
"This deal in front of the CPUC does not meet the criteria
"that the people of California need.
"I demand that PG&E's Plan of Reorganization be rejected
"until one that meets this criteria is brought forward."
The following people submitted the comment
that I just read with additional language.
Joseph May added: "As someone who's homeless,
"50 feet from a mandatory evacuation zone
"during the 2018 fires, and whose power has been
"repeatedly cut off by PG&E to protect our safety
"that was first endangered by PG&E's own greed,
"negligence, corruption, and incompetence,
"I support the Reclaim Our Power Utility Justice Campaign
"demands for a PG&E bankruptcy deal
"that works for the people of California, not Wall Street."
Joe Jordan added: "Commissioners, Governor Newsome,
"Any debt forgiveness should be
"for now impoverished rate payers,
"not for already wealthy corporations and shareholders.
"Think about that.
"Meanwhile, kudos, and please continue on standing strong
"for protecting public health."
And Mishwa Lee added: "I believe we all want
"the safest and healthiest life possible for our families.
"As a lifelong resident of California for over 72 years,
"I have lived through so many deadly
"and negligent practices of PG&E
"that I believe are criminal.
"Therefore, I support the Reclaim Our Power
"Utility Justice Campaign's demands
"for a PG&E bankruptcy deal that works
"for the people of California, not Wall Street."
I will now switch off to Michelle Cook
to read the second form comment.
-: Thank you.
Michelle: Good morning.
As stated earlier, there is a second comment
that we have received from several members of the public.
More than 10 people.
It reads: "Commissioners, you have heard for weeks now,
"how the PG&E plan in front of you doesn't work
"for rate payers, fire survivors,
"our communities, or the climate.
"You have the power and responsibility
"to build an energy system that works for all of us
"and our communities have the answers
"to how to build that system.
"PG&E has proven time and time again,
"from San Bruno to Paradise, that our safety
"is the least of their concerns
"and that they will put profit over safety.
"Please reject any plan which keeps in place
"a for-profit utility.
"Until the profit motive is removed,
"the energy grid will remain unsafe for communities
"because the underlying motivations remain the same.
"I ask you to reject this plan,
"unless it includes the following."
And then one to two choices are given,
which people have selected:
"Californians need true safety
"from utility caused fires, smoke, and shutoffs.
"Any for-profit plan places profit over all else,
"causing more fires like the Camp Fire
"and more shutoffs because money,
"which should have gone to ensure safety
"instead goes to line the pockets of shareholders."
Second, "Rate payers need to be protected.
"Any for-profit utility must make profit
"and continue to increase rates,
"whereas a public utility is not obligated to make profits,
"continually increasing financial burdens of rate payers."
Third, "Customers need rigorous, independent,
"democratic oversight of their utility.
"This cannot truly happen when utilities are run for-profit,
"beholden, and answering to shareholders.
"A public utility, which answers
"to regular people and rate payers
"can be democratically and transparently run."
Or: "Californians need a transformational energy system
"based on a clean decentralized energy model.
"For-profit utilities will not prioritize
"clean energy over profit or become decentralized.
"On the other hand, public utilities can
"and must prioritize clean energy,
"which protects the planet,
"and public utilities can become decentralized,
"preventing power from being transported
"hundreds of miles on power lines.
"Any deal must remove profit from our power grid,
"or it must be rejected."
The following members of the public
submitted that same comment with additional language.
Vivian Dai added: "To whom it may concern.
"My name is Vivian, and I'm a San Jose resident
"and member of the Silicon Valley DSA.
"As a democratic socialist, I oppose any plan
"to bail out PG&E due to its long track record
"of putting profits over people."
Heidi Bailey added: "Commissioners,
"My name is Heidi Bailey.
"I live in Oakland, California,
"and am a member of the East Bay Chapter
"of the Democratic Socialists of America.
"I am writing to urge you to think long and hard
"before allowing PG&E to remain a for-profit entity.
"I work in a social service agency
"that provides support to adults
"who have developmental disabilities
"to live independently in their own homes.
"When we face last minute, power shutoffs,
"this put the lives of our clients at risk.
"Many of them rely on electricity for lifesaving devices.
"PG&E didn't just inconvenience people.
"It risked the lives of many."
Caroline Kaney added: "Please reject PG&E's
"desperate, bail out hungry, bankruptcy plan,
"and instead, please recommend to Governor Newsome
"to convert this for-profit company into a public utility,
"answerable to rate payers and tax payers."
Bret Frangipane added: "Good morning.
"My name is Bret Frangipane.
"And I've lived in California for 20 years.
"This issue matters to me because twice
"in the past three years, my family has been
"put on evacuation alert for nearby fires."
Sarah Singer, who commented by phone, added:
"I find it ridiculous that this is even a question.
"PG&E has cost thousands of people their homes,
"livelihoods, and even lives.
"This board can save future lives and homes
"or be complicit in their loss."
Jeff Newman added: "Hello, Commissioners.
"I'm Jeff Newman, a citizen of Mountain view, California,
"and associated with the Silicon Valley DSA.
"I care deeply about the issue of climate change mitigation,
"and this email is my way of trying
"to make a difference close to home.
"The nature of a private company
"is to put shareholders and investors first.
"This can work well for some companies,
"but not those that provide a truly essential public service
"and have little competition, like PG&E.
"The breakdown of the for-profit model
"in serving our community has clearly been shown
"in PG&E's core maintenance of the energy grid,
"even before the disastrous wildfires of recent years."
At this time I'll turn it back
to Public Advisor Allison Brown.
-: Thank you.
Allison: Thank you, Michelle.
The third form comment,
which we received from over five people, reads:
"Dear Commissioners,
"Please reject any PG&E plan which keeps in place
"a for-profit utility.
"Until the profit motive is removed,
"the energy grid will remain unsafe for communities
"because the underlying motivations
"remain the same, profit over people."
And we also received the following unique emails.
From Carl St. Clair: "Dear CPUC members,
"I strongly urge each and every one of you
"to reject the proposed PG&E deal.
"For 40 years, the state of California
"has bailed PG&E out for nothing.
"The people of California have continued to suffer
"at the hands of a company that has shown
"time and time again, it will put
"profits and shareholders over residents.
"History has shown that the investor-owned utility
"is failed economic thinking, and will only prove disastrous
"as the climate crisis intensifies.
"We must not forget, as we sit in what inevitably is
"only one of the many increasingly common hot and dry days.
"The steps that are taken here will determine
"what future we leave for the children of humanity.
"Forever in solidarity, Carl St. Clair."
The next comment is from Michael Gasser,
from Science for the People:
"Dear CPUC members,
"Enough is enough.
"Accepting PG&E's plan for exit from bankruptcy,
"just plays into the hands
"of this essentially criminal organization.
"It's time for the hard conversation
"about how to make energy public in Northern California.
"Please reject PG&E's plan.
"Michael Gasser, Science for the People."
Rafael Izanaho writes:
"I care about the outcome of the PG&E deal
"because the people who suffered
"from recent California wildfires,
"is there a fair reimbursement?
"The deal in front of the CPUC does not meet the criteria
"that the people of California need.
"I demand the PG&E plan for reorganization be rejected
"until one that meets these criteria is brought forward.
"Rafael Izanaho."
John Mariansall writes:
"I would like to say the CPUC should allow
"the state of California and its elected
"Northern California municipalities
"to acquire PG&E as a public utility.
"And that the current stockholders
"must be reimbursed at a 2% interest rate."
Matthew Panacea writes:
"PG&E is literally a criminal organization.
"It is absurd that continues to exist as a private entity
"that is allowed to repeatedly murderer our citizens
"because of negligence and profit-seeking,
"while suffering little consequences.
"Stop bailing out PG&E and make it a nonprofit,
"state-controlled entity that is governed transparently,
"and for the people instead of profit.
"We don't have time for anything else."
Reverend Brian K. Wilson,
from the Bay Area Christian Connection writes:
"Dear CPUC Commissioners.
"I am the pastor of Bay Area Christian Connection,
"an active congregation serving members
"in Oakland and the East Bay.
"I strongly support the proposed decision
"and rulemaking 18-07-005, which details new approaches
"to disconnections and re-connections
"that improve energy access and contain costs.
"It is essential to African Americans
"in the San Francisco Bay Area,
"and throughout the state of California,
"that you approve this decision,
"and each of the vital consumer protections it proposes.
"As a pastor with 30 years experience,
"I am fully aware of vulnerable congregants and loved ones
"who have long suffered under heinous utility policies
"and needlessly enforced shutoffs
"of life-sustaining utility services.
"We know, and you know, these disconnections
"transform already burdensome expenses
"into absolutely prohibitive, unpayable bills,
"and tragically deny access to essential services.
"The proposed decision provides
"prudent alternatives to draconian measures.
"Among the policies I strongly support:
"Banning utilities from all shutoff
"whenever a 72 hour weather forecast predicts temperatures
"above 100 degrees or below 32 degrees.
"Preventing utilities from shutoff
"to medical baseline customers
"and households with an infant under 12 months,
"or an adult who was 65 or older,
"as long as they agree to a 12 month payment plan.
"Eliminating deposits to establish utility service,
"or restore utility service, after a shutoff.
"Protecting customers from being forced
"to pay utility bills of former tenants
"when they move into a new apartment.
"I urge you to immediately enact
"all of the rulemaking proposed policies.
"Consumers of color across our state deserve nothing less.
"Sincerely, Reverend Brian K. Wilson."
I will now turn it back over to Michelle.
Michelle: The next email is from Marilyn Fusk:
"The state of California cannot go on as it has for seasons,
"with aged power lines starting devastating fires.
"The definition of insanity is to continue
"to do things wrong repeatedly.
"We must upgrade all old wiring in wilderness areas
"and set up a system to halt the network
"when there is a faulty wire.
"Anything less than this is throwing our state
"into yet another maelstrom.
"No room here for cutting costs.
"Thank you, Marilyn Fusk."
Doug Carrol writes: "Good morning,
"And thank you for taking the time to read my email.
"Thank you also for your continued patience
"throughout this process and commitment
"to listening to dozens of often repetitive,
"but unfortunately misguided opinions
"by well-meaning people.
"It is important to allow every voice to be heard.
"I know this well because I spent over a decade
"on your side of the table, or in today's case, screen,
"in forums such as these as a public official.
"I also hold a graduate degree in public policy,
"so the process is something I hold very highly.
"However, in my experience, the vast majority of voices
"that show up to hearings such as this
"are actually the minority in opinion.
"In the case of PG&E's bankruptcy proceedings,
"I have found this to be true as well.
"There is actually overwhelming support for the plan
"for the company's bankruptcy, and for good reason.
"The plan is not a standalone effort by PG&E,
"but has been shaped and crafted with the direct input
"of fire victims, the office of the governor,
"the CPUC, and numerous other public
"and private officials and entities.
"In my experience, I have never witnessed
"such a collaborative effort for a private entity.
"We should all be truly proud of what we have created.
"Together we have seized on the opportunity
"to create the PG&E that we want and need.
"The climate is changing and making fire management
"extremely challenging, and the burden falls on all of us,
"the citizens and the public and private sectors,
"to create a sustainable future for ourselves.
"The calls for creating a publicly owned utility
"are sadly not feasible or realistic.
"The cost of liability for the state of California
"and ultimately its taxpayers, would be astronomical.
"With the overhaul of PG&E that will result
"with the approval of its bankruptcy plan,
"we will have the oversight and input that we all want.
"Supporting its bankruptcy exit plan
"is certainly the best option.
"And though I may be the only voice you hear today
"that is not an opposition, please remember
"that the vast majority of the public
"supports this bankruptcy plan.
"Thank you again for your sincere consideration
"and support of this plan."
The next email is from Mike Bullock: "Dear CPUC,
"Please design and implement changes to utility
"to prevent utility caused fires, smoke, and shutoffs.
"We need strong wildfire safety metrics
"and robust requirements for utility
"wildfire mitigation plans.
"This should obviously include replacing aged power lines
"and include upgrades to immediately
"de-energize infrastructure upon failure
"before it starts a fire.
"I assume that you are now aware
"that Berkeley has enacted an ordinance
"to prohibit NG hookups at all new development.
"Other municipal governments are doing the same.
"Lower construction costs, safety, health,
"the fact that all NG appliances are now inferior
"to their electric counterparts,
"and the fact that we are confronting
"an unbelievably severe climate change crisis,
"are all good reasons.
"Please enact the same at the state level.
"You oversee two competing forms of energy.
"One clearly needs to be phased out ASAP.
"Please do that.
"After all you are the one public utilities free commission.
"I am sure that you are just as smart
"as the city of Berkeley.
"Thank you for your leadership.
"Highest regards."
The next email is from Roland Sawhur:
"Dear Commissioners,
"I strongly urge you not to allow PG&E to exit bankruptcy.
"This organization cannot be trusted.
"It would be much better to have it taken over
"by the public, modeled after the highly successful
"public utilities we trust and appreciate,
"such as the Water Department, Monterey Bay Power,
"the US Postal Service, and so many others.
"Particularly in light of the climate crisis,
"we need a power utility that is not driven
"by profit maximization, but by service to the populace.
"We need safety, reliability, and sustainability.
"We also need protection of the rate payers
"from the greed of investors.
"I trust that you will show vision and leadership
"and the guts to say no to PG&E's plans.
"Thank you. Respectfully, Roland Sawhur."
The next email is from Chance Kinney,
Democratic Socialists of America:
"To the California Public Utilities Commission,
"PG&E should not be allowed to exit bankruptcy
"and ought to be nationalized.
"Access to energy is a necessity in the 21st century.
"Without access, citizens find yet
"more barriers to opportunity and equality
"when they are at their most vulnerable.
"A privately run energy company will always fail to serve
"at least some part of this most vulnerable group,
"exacerbating the growing disparity
"in wealth we see in California and in the entire nation.
"In addition, the private leadership, of PG&E in particular,
"has consistently shown itself to be untrustworthy,
"viewing the loss of life and housing in fires
"as acceptable in lieu of facing the challenges
"of maintaining their vast energy infrastructure.
"A daunting task to be sure, but a task
"they are responsible for nonetheless.
"If PG&E is allowed to exit bankruptcy,
"there is virtually no reason to think
"history will not repeat itself.
"The same profit motives exist,
"and the same incentive exists that will ensure
"that positions of leadership will be filled
"by those most willing to serve the profit motive.
"PG&E needs to serve all Californians,
"and thus must be accountable to all Californians.
"It must be nationalized.
"Our state energy should not exist
"for the benefit of well-monied rent seekers.
"Please do not allow PG&E to return to business as usual.
"We all know what that looks like.
"Give the state the opportunity to run PG&E
"for the good of all Californians, not just a few.
"Beth Chance McKinney, Member,
"Democratic Socialists of America, San Francisco Chapter."
The next comment is from Jean Viback: "Good morning.
"I feel PG&E should become a public utility.
"In 2010, we had the San Bruno pipeline explosion.
"Eight people were killed.
"It was found PG&E had collected
"224 million more than it was authorized
"to collect in oil and gas revenue
"in the decade before the explosion.
"At the same time, it spent millions less
"than it was supposed to on maintenance,
"and generally fell short of the safety standards.
"From June 2014 to December 2017,
"over 1,500 California fires, including the Paradise fire.
"PG&E has been prioritizing profits over safety measures
"for the bottom line, over everything, for decades.
"I think it's time this company becomes a public utility
"and safety will be the bottom line.
"Thank you, Jean Viback."
The next comment is from Robert Corning,
from Martinez, California: "To whom it may concern.
"I'm calling on you to reject this bankruptcy plan
"and support the establishment
"of a municipal electric utility in its place.
"Municipal electric utilities offer better rates,
"better safety, and will also pave the way
"to a greener California with less fossil fuel usage.
"Please do the right thing and resist
"PG&E's lobbying efforts to do what is right
"for the rate payers of Northern California.
"Sincerely."
The next comment is from G. Colby Allerton:
"If this plan passes, it will put in motion a process
"that will shortchange fire survivors,
"undercut true safety efforts, and keep our health
"and safety in the hands of Wall Street, not the people.
"This is on you, CPUC.
"This is not acceptable.
"Rate payers do need to be protected
"and not forced to pay for the failures of PG&E.
"And Californians need a transformational energy system
"based on a clean, decentralized energy model.
"Thank you. G Colby Allerton, Redondo Beach, California."
The next email is from Jane Doyle:
"I encourage you to vote no on PG&E's plan.
"I don't trust the utility to, quote, get it right,
"if allowed to continue to exist.
"Human and animal life and the environment are all
"too special to leave in the hands of a corporation
"that continually put profits before safety.
"Sincerely, Jane Doyle, resident of Santa Cruz."
At this time I'll turn it back
to Public Advisor Allison Brown.
Allison: Great. Thank you.
Our next comment is from Serena McNair.
It reads: "Commissioners.
"The plan for PG&E to exit bankruptcy is not enough
"and it will put millions of Californians at risk.
"You cannot allow PG&E to continue extracting profits
"at the expense of human lives each fire season,
"as they cut power to vulnerable communities
"and cause fires that kill.
"We can't wait for a corporation to decide its profitable,
"to switch to a green decentralized energy grid.
"California can't continue to rely on fossil fuels
"that contribute to pollution and global warming,
"and long networks of power lines that are difficult
"to maintain can wind up causing massive fires.
"Californians deserve to have rigorous control
"and oversight of a utility like this.
"And making PG&E a public utility
"would give us just that.
"Please consider making PG&E a public utility.
"Don't give this poorly managed corporation
"more opportunities to kill Californians
"and destroy our environment.
"We can't afford it.
"Thank you, Serena McNair, concerned citizen."
Our next comment is from David McCord.
"I'm David McCord, and I live in El Cerrito.
"I'm commenting on PG&E's wildfire mitigation plan,
"up for consideration June 11th.
"PG&E must satisfy many conditions
"in Appendix A of the plan.
"Among other things, the commission must hold
"PG&E accountable to break out the details
"and metrics of its plans and to carry them out
"sooner rather than later.
"PG&E must invest in replacing aging power lines
"with stronger wires and insulation.
"It must install technology to immediately detect
"impending faults, and to shut down lines instantaneously
"when faults occur, before they start a fire.
"San Diego Gas and Electric is a model.
PG&E need must follow its example.
"How well and quickly PG&E carries out its plan
"depends on the culture within
"executive and operational management.
"Going forward, the commission must hold PG&E accountable
"to ensure the proper culture.
"Thank you."
The next comment is from Alice Brown.
It reads: "To the Commissioners,
"PG&E's history of incompetence, negligence,
"deceit, and corruption, leading to the deaths of thousands,
"if not millions, of Californians,
"as well as the destruction of millions,
"if not billions of dollars, worth of our land, homes,
"infrastructure, and national resources, goes back decades.
"There's no evidence whatsoever that the institutional
"and operational culture of the company
"has dramatically changed.
"I understand that you already heard
"copious evidence that the proposed plan for PG&E
"to exit bankruptcy is utterly inadequate
"to address its persistent legal failures.
"There is no valid reason to allow this company
"to return to gouging the state and its citizens,
"while continuing to destroy the state's physical assets,
"murder its people, and ruin its reputation
"as a place to raise a family and establish a business.
"It is simply not sustainable,
"on top of being criminal and deeply unjust.
"Now, more than ever, with the devastation
"to the people of California and to the finances
"of the state due to COVID-19 pandemic,
"neither the people nor the government of California
"can continue to pour money and manpower
"into cleaning up after PG&E.
"And this bankruptcy plan is so inadequate,
"it guarantees these problems will continue.
"I've been a resident of California since 1987.
"My daughter was born and raised here.
"When my husband and I moved here, California was a model
"of good state government in many ways.
"It can be a beacon to the rest of the country again.
"We can recover from corrupt privatization
"that has destroyed so much productivity
"and so many public and private assets across the state.
"And once again, become a state
"people flock to instead of flee.
"But to do that, PG&E cannot be allowed
"to exit bankruptcy under this inadequate plan,
"and once again rampage our state,
"evading, for example, doing basic maintenance
"until massive conflagrations destroy
"lives and property again and again and again.
"It's time for criminal behavior in the executive suite
"to face at least the consequences of not being able
"to continue engaging in criminal behavior.
"You can say no.
"You can demand that this valuable enterprise,
"that is our power grid, be managed
"in the public's interest.
"We have seen what allowing the power grid to be managed
"in the service of profits produces.
"What's that saying about doing the same thing
"again and expecting different results?
"Vote against PG&E's plan.
"They can either come back with a better plan
"with better protections for people
"and government of California
"or California can return the power grid
"to being a public utility as it clearly should.
"All over the world, privatizing these kinds of services
"has failed, for all but a tiny and rich few.
"The experiment has failed.
"The smart choice is in front of you.
"Please take it.
"Sincerely, Alice Brown."
We had a break, I was gonna turn it back over to Michelle.
Do we want to do that?
President Batjer?
-: We're not taking a break right now.
You can certainly I--
Allison: Okay, perfect.
So then I will turn it back to Michelle
for the next few comments.
-: Okay. Sounds good. Thank you.
Michelle: The next email is from Caroline Trupti-Israel.
"Why do billionaire killers remain outside of prison
"and single person killers spend lifetimes in prison?
"Certain community projects should never be for-profit,
"like energy, healthcare, and education.
"We are seeing in real-time how the profit motive
"cannot produce safety.
"Our profit oriented nation is suffering
"the highest pandemic death tally in the world.
"Even a simple thing like producing equipment
"cannot happen until someone comes forward
"with a plan to make a killing on it.
"Without that, it simply does not happen,
"no matter how important it is to the nation's people."
The next email is from Paul Sherman: "Dear CPUC,
"On the afternoon of October 17th, 1989,
"my mom phoned and left a message on my answering machine.
"Noticeably shaken and startled, she spoke with pride
"and amazement how during one of the biggest earthquakes
"of the century, the PG&E man still prevailed
"in their scheduled appointment to relight
"the furnace pilot for the onset of winter.
"This memory might just be one of the best justifications
"for PG&E being allowed to exit from bankruptcy
"and get back to doing the exemplary work
"that they do in the face of countless trials and pitfalls.
"It reminds me of the motto of the US Postal Service,
"'Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night
"'stays these couriers from swift completion
"'of their appointed rounds.'
"Not allowing an exit from bankruptcy
"sets a dangerous precedent of priority excusal.
"We all need to be prepared and individually accountable
"for our actions or lack thereof.
"For example, if you want to make your home on a hillside
"in the middle of stick foliage and do not put in
"a hard effort with the priority and preserve to care for
"and maintain that hillside, because it's your property
"that you paid for, then shame on you.
"Another example, if a town wishes to build
"high density in a wild area and provides permits
"without ample clear space between properties,
"then shame on them.
"For three decades as a loyal PG&E customer,
"I only have observed only the very best
"professional punctual service.
"My individual disaggregated utility bills
"have always been mailed on time,
"without fail, and with hardly any increase at all.
"Therefore, please put me down for full support
"of swift and timely exit from bankruptcy proceedings
"with no further punitive actions or judgments.
"Kindly, Paul Sherman, San Jose, California."
John Douglas sent in this email and also commented by phone:
"California Public Utilities Commission,
"I urge you to reject PG&E's bankruptcy plan,
"and I urge you to instead recommend to Governor Newsome
"that the state force the sale of all PG&E assets
"to the state and convert the utility
"into a public state run utility,
"subject to the will and needs of rate payers and taxpayers.
"Thanks for considering my views.
"John E. Douglas."
At this time, I'll turn it back to Public Advisor Brown.
Allison: Thank you.
The next comment is from Aiden Keener.
"Hello, my name is Aiden Keener.
"I'm an 18 year old resident of San Mateo, California
"and a member of the Peninsula Democratic Socialists.
"The recent fires that have ravished our state
"due to the negligence and corner-cutting,
"driven by the greed of PG&E, matter a great deal to me.
"I am an asthmatic, and I'm at high risk
"during periods of heavy pollution
"as the fires destroys towns across the state.
"The only solution to the constant
"manmade fires we are seeing,
"is to remove profit-seeking from the equation.
"PG&E must not be allowed to exit bankruptcy,
"and instead it must become a public utility
"with popular oversight.
"Only through a generously funded,
"democratically operated state utility company
"can Californians, especially those of our working class
"from vicious blazes and random power shutoffs.
"This model has been done successfully in Nebraska,
"as well as countries across the world.
"I ask only that you stand on the side of workers,
"the environment, and progress.
"Please vote to keep PG&E in bankruptcy
"and turn our power over to the people.
"Thank you, Aiden Keener."
The next comment is from Pamela Shulgan.
"Dear Commissioners,
"Last week, politically motivated speakers
"took it upon themselves to speak
"on behalf of wildfire victims.
"I'd like to provide a different point of view.
"Victims can speak for themselves, and have overwhelmingly
"voted in favor of the reorganization plan.
"They just understand that a perfect solution
"isn't possible, and that's life,
"but rather demand a solution that is fair, equitable,
"and timely, so we can all get on with our lives.
"The longer this drags on,
"the less likely a fair outcome will be.
"You all have a weighty responsibility,
"and I imagine you don't take it lightly.
"Please vote in favor of the plan so this chapter can end,
"and victims can take the next step in healing.
"Thank you for your time.
"Sincerely, Pamela Shulgan."
The next comment is from Carol Drake.
"Hello, California Public Utilities Commission.
"I am in favor of PG&E becoming a public utility.
"I do not think that PG&E should be
"allowed to exit bankruptcy.
"PG&E has put profit over people's lives.
"It would be better if PG&E be bought by the state,
"becoming a public utility.
"Thank you, Carol Drake."
The next comment is from Al Weinrub.
"My name is Al Weinrub, and I'm a coordinator
"of the California Alliance for Community Energy.
"The Alliance is a statewide organization
"advocating for the development
"of local, renewable energy resources,
"local generation, storage, demand reduction, and so forth,
"controlled by our local communities.
"This has taken the form of a growing
"Community Choice energy movement,
"which now numbers 21 Community Choice agencies
"in California, serving over 11 million customers,
"and which is already serving
"more than 50% of PG&E's former electricity load.
"The growth in this local, public energy service providers
"is testimony to the failure of the monopoly utilities
"like PG&E to meet our communities' needs.
"Utility caused wildfires, power shutoffs, gross negligence,
"and priorities that put us all at great human risk,
"especially in light of this pandemic, all in order
"to guarantee PG&E shareholder and Wall Street profits.
"I know you already know this.
"Yet you are ready to rubber stamp a bankruptcy plan
"that itself is bankrupt of any value to our communities,
"does nothing to address the criminal abuse of power
"exercised by PG&E, and in fact,
"puts us all at greater risk.
"It is a violation of public trust
"for the CPUC in the interest of Wall Street
to rubber stamp an even more monstrous
"reincarnation of PG&E, a bankruptcy exit plan
"designed by the monster itself,
"one that bills wildfire survivors,
"bails out PG&E at rate payer expense,
"and puts our lives at increased jeopardy.
"Former CPUC President Michael Pecker
"publicly stated that the role of the CPUC
"is to protect the monopoly utilities.
"This is your opportunity to do otherwise,
"to demonstrate that the initials C-P-U-C
"do not stand California Private Utility company."
I will now turn it back over to Michelle.
Michelle: The next email is from Sara Lamnin,
Hayward City Council Member.
"Hello, thank you for your careful consideration.
"While I appreciate the amount of work
"that has gone into the proposal before you,
"it is time to look beyond what is currently established.
"Please reject the proposal.
"Let the current conditions extend for one more year.
"Evaluate the public options proposed
"by Mayor Sam Liccardo and others,
"and move forward with a transition plan
"to have public utility, owned by the public.
"It is possible.
"Thank you. Sara Lamnin, Hayward City Council Member."
The next email is from Steven Lewis.
"PG&E is an insidious company,
"one responsible for both insane greed
"and literal damage to our state of California.
"To prevent further fires and deeper injustice,
"please do not let PG&E out of bankruptcy.
"Their plan should not be approved
"and these matters of earth, energy, and climate,
"should belong to the people and the state.
"Thank you."
The next email is from Maureen Malizuski.
"Making the electric service a public utility
"will be sustainable, safer,
"and better for the environment.
"With a public utility,
"we take the profit motive out of the equation."
The next email is from Tyler Brysocker,
"Whatever the CPUC can do to move us in the direction
"of public utilities, please do it.
"No one should be profiting
"from everyone's need for electricity,
"and certainly not from the many harmful
"and even deadly actions of PG&E.
"Thank you."
The next email is from Ronald Martin.
"There may be no fair way to structure
"a bankruptcy for PG&E with the huge damages
"that resulted from its use of outdated equipment.
"This is the time to replace PG&E
"with an organization governed by customers and employees.
"Its board should include these stakeholders
"and state representative, and without stockholders,
"will need no representation of financial institutions.
"Since rate payers ultimately pay for PG&E's mistakes,
"they should take control of the organization
"that supplies our power,
with the safe management that we choose.
"Such an organization would be more open
"to connecting community choice aggregation to its grid,
"thus preventing power using communities
"to choose sustainable sources of energy for their area.
"If a new stakeholder governed organization
"is not established, at least there should be
"someone reporting to the legislature
"to supervise PG&E's operations,
"to see that they are safe and reliable,
"that electric rates are close to costs,
"their rates are within the incomes of rate payers,
"that rate increases are close
"to the general rate of inflation,
"that the executive compensation
"is in line with the work they do,
"and what ordinary citizens are paid,
"and that transition to electric power that is
"carbon neutral is accomplished as quickly as possible."
The next email is from Charlotte Quinn,
who also commented on a phone.
"Dear Commissioners,
"It is clear that PG&E's reorganization plan
"will not work for rate payers,
"fire survivors, communities, or the climate.
"It is in your power, and it is certainly your duty,
"to build an energy system that
"all works for communities and the climate.
"We need a public utility.
"The existing and proposed for-profit model
"is the cause of fires and explosions,
"death and destruction, and old unsafe infrastructure.
"The for-profit model is why we are wasting precious time
"transitioning to clean, renewable energy,
"so desperately needed to reduce climate catastrophes.
"Please reject any plan that keeps PG&E
"as a for-profit utility.
"Until the profit motive is removed,
"the energy grid will remain unsafe for communities,
"just as it has been fatally proven over and over again.
"Reject the for-profit utility model
"and require that PG&E become a public utility.
"We desperately need a public utility
"that prioritizes clean, renewable energy,
"that implements decentralized production,
"and that has strong, independent democratic oversight.
"Please make PG&E a public utility.
"Please do not allow it to remain a for-profit entity,
"which will only perpetrate destruction and failure.
"Thank you, Charlotte Quinn."
The next email is from Nicole Dessai.
"Dear Commissioners,
"The profit-seeking approach taken by PG&E
"in the last decade has led to neglect
"of crucial infrastructure, which has caused the loss
"of many lives and millions of dollars in property damage.
"It is unconscionable that the state would allow PG&E
"to declare bankruptcy without instituting
"meaningful reforms that move our state back
"to public ownership of power provision.
"Our state once led the way in creating
"government-run, efficient utilities
"that provided power for everyone for cheap.
"Please dismiss this proposal
"and instead consider the request of many California Mayors
"who want the utility to be taken into public ownership.
"Regards, Nicole Dessai."
The next email is from Kevin Mah,
who wrote on 5/21 the same email.
"Dear Commissioners,
"PG&E has had a history of failures
"to invest in the safety of its infrastructure,
"leading to wildfires that have burned down cities
"and a pipeline explosion that killed
"one of your staff members.
"And there is current news that the bankruptcy case
"may be tainted by a conflict of interest
"that underscores the danger of letting
"the utility fall under the whims of the market,
"rather than directly accountable to the people,
"as well as the mixed victim voting process.
"In the meantime, PG&E has had the guts
"to fund lobbying efforts to protect itself,
"despite its finances, and the proposed bankruptcy plan's
"use of PG&E stock for compensation
"creates a perverse chilling effect for the victims,
"where any criticism could hurt relief efforts,
"especially compounded by our fragile economic climate.
"And PG&E is also trying to weasel out
"of the San Bruno compensation plan today in agenda item 10.
"Despite the AB 1054 deadlines,
"the commission should not speed up proceedings.
"Being too hasty may lead to future neglect and harm.
"The commission should ask for more stringent
"reform efforts, such as greater independent powers
"to the third party monitors, chief restructuring officer,
"or any accountable authority.
"The commission should also compel PG&E
"to devolve its powers to local elected bodies,
"as has been asked from San Francisco and San Jose.
"Or, given that it's already in bankruptcy proceedings,
"PG&E should be taken completely away from the market
"and become a nonprofit or governmental entity.
"Until then, I ask you to reject the plan
"as it currently stands.
"Sincerely, Kevin Mah."
The next email is from Madeline Klein,
which we believe also is a duplicate from last week.
"Commissioners,
"It's time for you to stand up for the people of California
"and vote no on PG&E's reorganization plan.
"PG&E does not deserve another chance.
"The state of California needs to step in
"and take over PG&E on the way to establishing
"a worker, community owned public utility.
"PG&E is only interested in making a profit,
"and not providing safe and affordable energy
"to its customers.
"This can be shown by the a hundred plus deaths
"that PG&E's negligence has caused
"over the past three years.
"A state audit proved that they diverted $100 million
"that was intended for safety maintenance and upgrades,
"to instead use for bonuses for executives.
"This is criminal.
"PG&E is a convicted felon.
"Now is the time to make a bold move
"in favor of California's energy consumers.
"Energy is a natural resource that should be
"readily available to all, with no fear of loss of life,
"or having to pay to clean up someone's negligence.
"Vote no on PG&E's bankruptcy reorganization plan
"and take the right step to provide the people of California
"with a safer, more accessible, publicly run utility.
"Madeline Klein, Santa Cruz, California."
At this time, I'll turn it back to Public Advisor Brown.
Allison: Thank you, Michelle.
So that concludes the email comments
that we've received before 10 o'clock today.
Anything that we received afterwards,
I will send over to the commissioners,
as well as anything that we received
after 10 o'clock for prior meetings.
Thank you.
-: I want to especially thank Public Advisor Brown,
and ALJ Cook, for reading the emails to us.
Thank you so very much, I appreciate that.
And we will look forward to the distribution of any emails
that came after the 10 o'clock hour.
Thank you, both of you.
Operator, is there anyone else on the line
who wishes to speak at this time?
Operator: Yes, President Batjer,
our next caller is Jessica Tovar,
East Bay Clean Power Alliance.
You may go ahead.
-: I want to remind the callers
that you have one and a half minutes to speak,
just as the other callers had earlier.
Thank you.
Jessica: Thank you, Commissioners.
Yes, I want to urge you to reject this bad PG&E plan
because it really does not compensate
the survivors of the wildfires.
In addition, I really urge you to focus on prevention
of further wildfires, and also the planned power shutoffs.
We are in the midst of a global pandemic.
We know that the situation with COVID-19
will potentially get worse.
We've already seen that our health care providers
do not have the N-95 masks and the other things
that they need to treat us,
much less do we, who have to evade the smoke
and the folks that need to evade the fires
in order to get to safety.
So we really urge you to reject this plan
and actually prevent further deaths and destruction
that has been caused by PG&E.
We know better.
And the people have spoken already
that this deal is bad for California.
We need you to make the best decision
that actually focuses on safety,
both for the workers and the community.
Thank you very much.
-: Thank you, operator one more caller, I believe?
Operator: And President Batjer,
we have no additional callers at this time.
-: Oh, okay. Thank you.
Well, thank you, operator. Appreciate that.
That will end the public comment period for today.
And we will take a brief 30 minute break,
and we will resume at 1:00 PM.
Thank you all. That's the end of the public comment.
(gentle upbeat music)
(upbeat music continues)
Robert: Take us off hold.
Marybel: Okay.
Robert: President Batjer?
Marybel: Yes?
Robert: There was (speaking faintly).
-: Okay, thank you very much, Robert.
So, we are back in session.
We need to establish a quorum.
Could we please have the roll call.
(Clerk's voice distorting)
-: Present.
-: Sorry, we can't hear you.
You're gonna have to speak into your mic a little closer.
-: Present.
Clerk: Guzman Aceves?
-: Present.
Clerk: Commissioner Randolph?
-: Present.
Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Present.
Clerk: President Batjer?
-: Present.
Did you call Commissioner Shiroma?
Clerk: Yes, as she said, present,
Commissioner Shiroma, one more time?
-: Yes, present.
-: Okay, just so we know, we're having a delay,
I'm seeing people speak, and then I'm hearing them later.
So I don't know if that's something that we can fix
or we should deal with, but just giving folks a heads up.
Okay, I will move onto item four on today's meeting agenda.
Item four on today's meeting agenda was subject
to a rate setting deliberative meeting, an RDM,
and a hold to the June 11th voting meeting
has been requested and granted.
As a result of this item,
as a result, excuse me, this item will be subject
to a default ex parte quiet period,
pursuant to Public Utilities Code Section 1701.3 (h) 6
This item may be subject to additional quiet time,
if the commission chooses to extend the default quiet time.
The default quiet time is as follows.
No oral or written parte communications
will be allowed from June 8th, 2020
to the end of June 11th, 2020 voting meeting.
If the commission establishes additional quiet time
for this item, oral and written ex parte communications
will be restricted during that additional quiet time period.
If this item is held again, the commission will continue
on the ability to establish further ex parte quiet periods.
Okay, moving on in our agenda to the agenda changes,
those held and withdrawn.
Here are the changes to today's agenda.
Item two will be held until 6/11/20 meeting.
Item four will be held till 6/11/20 meeting.
Item five will be held until 7/16/20 meeting.
Item seven has been withdrawn.
Item nine will be held until the 6/11/20 meeting.
Item 12 will be held until the 6/25/20 meeting.
Item 17 will be held until the 6/25/20 meeting.
Item 28 will be held until the 6/11/20 meeting.
Item 35, it will be taken up with the consent agenda.
Item 36 will be held until the 6/11/20 meeting.
Item 42 will be taken up with the consent agenda.
And item 43, will be taken up with the consent agenda.
And then, I need to...
Let's see.
Okay, I need to read the following.
Colleagues, at the May 21st, 2020 voting meeting,
the proposed decision on I.19-09-016,
the reorganization plan of Pacific Gas and Electric Company
was held to this meeting.
That item was held after the agenda for this meeting
was published and must be taken up at today's meeting
because of the schedule for the confirmation hearings
in the United States Bankruptcy Court, which started
on May 27th and are continuing today, in order to meet
the statutory June 30 deadline for confirmation.
In order to add this item, item 48, to today's agenda,
pursuant to government code section 11125.3(a)2,
we need to vote to find there is a need
to take immediate action, and that the need for action
came to our attention subsequent
to the publication of the agenda for this meeting
Colleagues, I move to add this item
to our agenda for a vote today.
I need a second.
-: Second. -: Second.
-: It has been moved and seconded.
Would the agenda clerk please call the roll?
Clerk: Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Randolph?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Yes.
Clerk: President Batjer?
-: Yes.
Thank you, Jenae.
Item 48 is now on today's agenda.
And can be taken up for a vote.
We will now take up the consent items.
I need a motion to do that and a second.
-: So moved.
-: Second. -: Second.
-: It's been moved and seconded.
Will the agenda clerk, please call the roll
on the consent agenda items?
Clerk: For consent agenda items, Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Randolph?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Aye.
Clerk: President Batjer?
-: Aye.
Thank you.
The vote is unanimous on the consent agenda.
I believe that we have some comments today
on the consent items.
Commissioner Rechtschaffen,
would you like to make remarks on item 14?
And that is the modification of decision 19-08-001,
to the Self Generation Incentive Program.
-: Thank you, President Batjer.
Last year, we adopted a decision to ensure
energy storage systems receiving incentives
through the Self Generation Incentive Program, or SGIP,
reduced customer GHG emissions,
which is required by statute.
And to ensure that they would meet this requirement,
residential customers are required
to enroll in time of use rates,
with a peak rate starting at 4:00 PM or later,
and with a pretty significant differential
between the peak time during this time differential
between the off-peak and peak time.
This we call a SGIP compliant time of use rate
and is a proxy for making sure
that GHG emissions will be reduced by people
who have these energy storage systems.
This decision, granting the petition for modification,
approves an acceptance for this rule
for medical baseline customers,
so that these customers can enroll in any kind of use rate
if there is no so-called shift compliant rate, one that has
those features I just mentioned, available to them.
The reason we're doing this is because PG&E
currently does not have a SGIP compliant time of use rate
for medical baseline customers.
There's nothing that they could enroll in.
The other items is to PG&E does not.
And the import of this is is that PG&E
medical baseline customers in high fire threat areas,
or who had public safety power shutoff events
in the past year, it allows them access to the new
equity resiliency programming for medical baseline customers
that recent decisions established.
Obviously this is of critical importance
as we prepare for another fire season
and potential power shutoffs.
I want to thank PG&E for filing
this petition for modification,
and ALJ Fogel for a lot of work in this decision,
as well as (voice distorting).
Thank you.
-: Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Rechtschaffen.
Commissioner Guzman Aceves, would you like
to make some comments on, I believe,
item 42, which is the appointment
to the Disadvantaged Communities Advisory Group.
-: Yes. Thank you, President Batjer.
I just wanted to share the most recent appointment
of the latest advisor
on the Disadvantaged Community Advisory Group.
His name is Roman Partida-Lopez,
and he will be playing a very important role for both,
as you recall, for both advisories,
both the CPUC and the CEC.
He has a lot of relevant professional expertise
as well as important lived experience.
Professionally, Roman has a wide range of experience
working on environmental justice and legal issues
with many reputable organizations
from the city of Chula Vista, San Diego Coastkeeper,
and San Diego Legal Aid Society.
For the past two years he has served as legal counsel,
and as a member of the Environmental Equity team
at the Greenlining Institute.
He's the son of immigrant parents,
and he grew up in the San Diego border region,
spending time on both sides of the US Mexico border.
During his formative years he lived in National City,
with his home located two blocks away from the I-5 freeway,
and next to an autobody shop that exposed
him and his family to toxic chemicals and pollutants.
We're very excited to have someone join the DACAG,
and bringing his breadth and depth of knowledge
in making a strong representation of Southern California,
particularly the border region.
So please help me in welcoming Roman.
Thank you.
Liane: Welcome.
-: Thank you.
-: Martha, thank you, Commissioner Guzman Aceves.
Commissioner Shiroma, I believe you would like
to make some remarks on item 43,
item 18, item 20, item 26, and item 35.
-: Yes.
Thank you, President Batjer.
Yes, I wanted to briefly highlight,
a number of the votes we just took,
that our efforts to respond
to the current COVID-19 pandemic,
in item 18, directs the utilities to offer contractors
for the Energy Savings Assistance Program,
a 60 day advanced payment for work
to be done in the future.
And this is important to keep workers on the payroll
during the Stay-at-Home order and to provide
for that bridge to assure that we have these expert workers
available to continue this effort for low income households.
And I would like to thank Allison LaBonte, Jason Symonds,
and the rest of the Energy Division team,
for their quick work on this item.
Item 20 temporarily suspends the renewal process
for our California Lifeline program,
to ensure continued access to affordable communications
and phone service during this time.
This has been very important
for people to be able to communicate.
Thank you to Judge Stephanie Wang,
and our Communications Division's Lifeline team,
and our Legal Advisor Cynthia Yuen.
Item 26 grants some of our regulated utilities
quicker access to federal and state loan or grant programs,
resulting in lower costs for consumers in the long term.
And this is for water and energy.
I'd like to thank Jack Mulligan from the Legal Division,
and in particular, Bruce DeBerry from the Water Division,
for their work on this resolution.
And item 35, through the leadership
of Commissioner Randolph, moves up the distribution
of the whole Climate Credit
for PacificCorp and Liberty Utilities
in response to the Governor's Stay-at-Home order.
And this will help to mitigate bills for folks
who are staying at home and using
more electricity than they otherwise would.
And then finally, item 43 was our vote to reappoint
Robert Castaneda to the Low Income Oversight Board,
which advises the commission
on any low income energy programs.
And I just want to do a shout-out
that the Low Income Oversight Board is holding
its next quarterly meeting on Friday, June 12th via WebEx,
and details can be found at the LIOB website.
Thank you.
Anne: President Batjer, this is Judge Simon,
I am sorry to interrupt,
but before you go onto the regular agenda.
-: Yes, Judge?
Anne: There's a small correction that needs to be made.
-: Okay.
Anne: The PG&E reorganization item,
which you identified as item 48,
had been item 48 since it's not on the published agenda.
However, owing to the mysteries of production,
on the agenda that is actually produced this morning,
the item number has been changed to item 51.
It is the same item.
There is nothing different in its content.
So, I would just like the record to reflect that
the discussion and adoption of item 48 was prior item 48,
which is now current item 51, identical in all respects.
-: Anne, do we need to go back and take a vote on it,
as we did on item 48, just to be clear?
Arocles: This is Arocles Aguilar, the General Counsel.
I think out of an abundance of caution,
I would redo the vote, so the record is imminently clear
that you voted to add item 51.
-: No, it's item 48, you said item...
Anne: It's now item 51, what had been item 48.
Michelle: Apologies, this is Michelle Cook.
In revision five of the agenda, it was 51.
It is now 48 in revision six,
which is the most currently posted agenda.
Apologies.
Anne: So nothing new needs to happen.
Michelle: It now should be fine.
Anne: But anyone who read revision five and saw item 51,
it is the same as item 48.
Thank you, Michelle.
-: Thank you, Michelle.
So we can move on through the agenda.
Thank you, commissioners, for your comments
on the consent items, I appreciate them.
We will now move onto the regular agenda items.
And we will first take up, we will take them in the order
that they are listed.
So the first item is item 34.
It is assigned to me.
And it's Phase 2 Updated and Additional Guidelines
for the De-Energization of Power Lines
in Dangerous Conditions, better known as PSPS.
I will present the item and the proposed decision
on Phase 2 Updated and Additional Guidelines
for the De-Energization of Power Lines
in Dangerous Conditions.
Before I get into the details of the decision,
I'd like to first say just a few words.
Though it seems so long ago, it was only six months ago
when PG&E initiated the largest public safety shutoff,
PSPS, in the history of California.
PG&E's deliberate action resulted in power being shutoff
to more than 700,000 customer accounts,
estimated to have directly impacted
more than two million people.
After that unmitigated catastrophe,
I pledged that this would not become the new normal.
Loss of power is not a mere inconvenience,
it endangers the lives and property,
especially to those individuals who are most vulnerable
and are reliant on power for medical reasons.
We heard much testimony to that effect
in our public comment period this morning.
Loss of power causes major disruptions to businesses,
medical facilities, schools, transportation,
and other critical facilities,
and strains local emergency and public safety personnel.
While the utilities have statutory authority
to initiate a PSPS only as a last resort,
they must execute PSPS actions in a way
that takes every measure to maximize safety
and minimize the impact and the destruction to the public.
Last fall, in the wake of PG&E's
disastrous PSPS implementation,
I promised that the CPUC would take swift action
to address this problem before the 2020 wildfire season.
Today's decision demonstrates that even agencies
that are subject to formalized process
can quickly address emergency situations.
But we could not have gotten to this point
without the dedicated effort of a multi-functional team,
here at the CPUC, and then diligent efforts
of the 30-something parties
that have participated in this proceeding.
My sincere gratitude goes out to the ALJ division,
the CPUC staff, for getting us to the finish line
on this important decision, especially during
these trying times under shelter-in-place orders.
I would like to start by thanking ALJ Brian Stevens
for working under a tight schedule
and masterfully fitting together the input
from a large set of CPUC experts and numerous parties
into a high quality set of PSPS requirements.
I would also like to thank
Assistant Chief ALJ Jessica Hecht for her leadership,
and former ALJ, now Program Manager, Melissa Semcer,
who previously led this proceeding
and worked closely with ALJ Stevens
to make a quick and very efficient transition.
Thanks to Rachel Peterson, now the Deputy Executive Director
for Safety Enforcement and Policy and her team.
Caroline Thomas-Jacobs, Director
of the Wildfire Safety Division and her team.
And of course our hardworking folks
in the Industry Division staff.
Thank you, most importantly, to my Bagley-Keene partner,
Commissioner Rechtschaffen and his terrific advisors,
Sean Simon and Alec Pineda.
I finally thank, and finally, of course,
thanks to my own advisors,
who worked very, very diligently and hard on this,
Dave Peck and Shannon O'Rourke.
This decision adopts additional de-energization guidelines
for the electric investor-owned utilities.
The guidelines included here and upon those adopted
in the Resolution ESRB-8, and in last year's decision
on the Phase 1 of the guidelines.
The adopted new measures promote public safety
by requiring the utilities to better communicate
with impacted communities in advance
of the 2020 wildfire season, and to minimize
the duration and the impact of the PSPS events when called.
These new guidelines address the issues that arose
during the 2019 PSPS events.
Coming out of those events, it was clear
that major improvements were needed in the frequency
and approach to communicating with impacted communities,
and approaching the PSPS events with a focus
on minimizing impact once initiated.
The new guidelines are focused on ensuring utilities
are taking the necessary steps to comprehend
and address the needs of impacted communities
as part of their PSPS planning and execution.
Those guidelines go into effect immediately
and require progress reports by the utilities
within two months, a critical requirement,
given the consideration of the current
COVID-19 pandemic coinciding with the wildfire season.
And then a second progress report this winter,
post-wildfire season.
The decision acknowledges that the utility
should make every effort to adhere
to the PSPS guidelines while complying with direction
from public health officials regarding shelter-in-place,
social distancing, or other measures,
that may need to be taken in response.
(electronic beep)
(technicians chattering quietly)
Technician: And when you say you're back, Robert,
tell me what's up now?
Robert: Todd.
Technician: Oh, and you're in contact with Todd?
Robert: Yeah.
Technician: Okay.
-: Okay, I think we're doing a sound test.
To see if the audio is back on.
So I'll do that, testing, testing?
-: He says loud and clear.
Can you hear me all right?
-: Yes.
-: Okay.
I don't know where I was lost.
So, can somebody tell, is it,
did you hear me address.
Going to one of two groups.
The first group is those guidelines
that ensure utilities are better comprehending
and addressing the needs of impacted communities.
These new measures include:
First, establish quarterly redrawn working groups
and advisory boards with local communities,
access and functional needs representatives
of public safety partners to ensure
that utilities hear directly from the impacted communities
to public safety experts on how the effects of the PSPS,
and then incorporate that feedback into their PSPS planning.
Second, develop communication and notification plans
and ensure that the utility website has sufficient bandwidth
capable to provide the public with precise information
of potential and active PSPS events.
Third, site communication carriers
that meter and circuit IDs to be de-energized,
in advance of taking actions to ensure carriers
employ resources, to minimize the impact
of PSPS events on communication infrastructure.
Fourth, identify people who may be
at medical or safety risk of an extended power outage,
above and beyond those utility medical baseline rates,
and work in collaboration with public safety partners,
local governments, and representatives
of access and functional needs communities
to identify assistance required during the PSPS event.
And finally, plan and execute PSPS tabletop exercise
in areas with the highest historical
and forecasted risk of PSPS, in coordination with the CPUC,
the Department of Forestry, Cal Fire, and Cal OES,
and representatives of the access
and functional needs communities.
The second group of PSPS guidelines are those
that minimize the duration and impact
of the PSPS event on communities.
These measures include:
First, finalize community resource centers plans
within 60 days of this decision,
based on local, demographic, and safety needs.
Community resource centers,
to provide device charge locations,
cellular network services and be operable from at least
between 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM during the PSPS event.
Second, restore service after PSPS events
as soon as possible.
Revision one of PD clarifies that power
must be restored within 24 hours
of the termination of the de-energization event,
unless it is unsafe to do so.
And finally, work with local, tribal,
federal, and state government agencies,
and other private and public sector parties,
to identify critical transportation,
telecommunication, and water system infrastructure
located in PSPS prone areas, requiring backup generation
to ensure that critical infrastructure
is not brought offline during a PSPS event.
All these guidelines are just that, guidelines.
And it is upon the utilities to appropriately follow them,
and execute upon them.
It is my intention that the addition
of these new requirements to the already existing guidelines
will help the utilities to better maintain public safety,
this wildfire season and beyond.
Lastly, I want to remind everyone
that we are now in wildfire season.
Weather conditions this weekend, throughout the state,
are calling on us to be vigilant,
and at any moment, be ready to act.
And with that, I ask my fellow commissioners
for their support on item 34.
And I'll turn to any comments.
-: President Batjer?
-: Commissioner Randolph?
-: And I just have a few brief comments.
I wanna thank you, and Commissioner Rechtschaffen,
and again, for all your work in leading this proceeding.
I think it's clear based on the wildfire mitigation plans
that it's gonna be some time before we get to a point
where our system can entirely avoid PSPS.
So we have to learn to figure out
how to coexist with that important safety measure.
And it was very clear from last fire season
that lack of communication and coordination
was a critical failure in the process.
And so this decision really addresses that
and lays out some clear guidelines and clear best practices.
And so, I really appreciate all that hard work.
And I'd also lastly note that,
one of the things that hopefully
is gonna make this process successful
is that Caroline Thomas-Jacobs and Rachel Peterson
are meeting regularly and consistently
with the utilities, and really bird-dogging them,
and keeping an eye on them, and making sure,
in particular, PG&E, but all of the utilities,
to really comply with these guidelines
and implement the PSPSs appropriately.
And so that legwork and consistent attention is very great.
So, I'm very supportive of this decision. Thank you.
-: Thank you, Commissioner Randolph.
I'll just add that, thank you for noting the fact
that we have two very senior and very experienced people
meeting on a regular basis with the IOUs,
and noted particularly, PG&E.
We are, in considering things that this PD is ordering,
for example, the community resource centers,
when we say that they react in 60 days,
they are in a better position already,
as wildfire season has started.
and it's because of that bird-dogging,
as you referred to it as, has gone on,
that I think the rate of preparation has quickened,
in February and March and April, to get the IOUs
to a much better place in preparation.
Not there yet, and also, when we call for the exercises.
Those exercises are all already planned,
for June, July, and August.
So I hope all of our community partners and stakeholders
will join in on those exercises.
PG&E needs to plan for June.
And I believe San Diego Gas and Electric
has one in June and July.
And then San Diego Gas and Electric is,
their exercise is later in August.
So thank you for those comments, Commissioner Randolph.
Other comments on item 34?
Yes, Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Thank you, President Batjer.
I want to thank you and the multidisciplinary staff
and Judge Stevens for this decision.
Its steed and substance meet the challenges
posed by last year's shutoffs.
I want to underscore what's implicit in what you,
and Commissioner Randolph was talking about.
This is really, this is one of many steps.
The V-U-C-N has stated taking,
to improve wildfire fighting efforts by our PSPS protocols
and supervision of the protocols.
There's been a lot of informal meetings,
which President Batjer, you've convened several
emergency meetings and other meetings directly
with PG&E and other utilities
to get immediate accountability for what happened last year.
There are very important provisions
in the wildfire mitigation plans
that we are working through that also deal with PSPSs.
So this is just one of many steps
the state is taking and the commission is taking.
I think it builds very constructively
on the lessons learned from last year's events,
as President Batjer indicated.
Just to highlight a few of the things
that are particularly important.
As President Batjer notes,
there will now be working groups and an advisory board
that will meet regularly.
One of the great benefits of this
is that this will ensure there's a formal communication loop
between communities and emergency responders
and the IOUs, so there'll be a feedback loop
that the IOUs will hear directly from communities.
The guidelines also set up a process
of continual improvement and learning from best practices.
The IOUs still have support from the commission
on how well they're doing, if they've successfully
implemented lessons from past events,
and they have to use those lessons
to continually refine and improve PSPS processes.
President Batjer mentioned more concrete rules
for the community resource standards
and the minimum hours of operation
and the power requirement.
The rollout of those was quite problematic last year,
particularly at PG&E.
It's imperative that we do it right this year.
And as President Batjer was explaining,
generally all standards now take into account
state and local health measures
when dealing with the COVID crisis.
As President Batjer mentioned,
the decision imposes better notification requirements.
Among these requirements that, whenever reasonably possible,
communications must be in the language
preferred by the customer.
An alternative format needs to be made available
for people with disabilities who may not be able
to use those standard forms of communication.
And then finally, in part to deal with
our growing electric vehicle use,
and the need to provide areas large to charge them
during PSPS events, was a decision to direct the IOUs,
in next wildfires, to implement local EV charging docks.
Again, I want to echo appreciation for the excellent staff,
for a real example of agency breaking down silos
and for coordinating as well as finishing,
and echo that to my Advisors Alec Pineda and Sean Simon.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Commissioner Rechtschaffen.
I appreciate those comments,
as well as your alliance on this important PD.
Yes, Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Yes. Thank you.
Thank you, President Batjer and Commissioner Rechtschaffen,
Judge Stevens, and the many staff who helped
bring this item forward with substantial pressing
improvements on the the existing guidelines.
The proposed decision contains important provisions
to improve coordination and communication
with local governments and over the past few months,
we have heard from local government representatives,
of which have come to previous voting meetings
and shared their views with us.
And as others have said very eloquently,
the importance of involving communities and advisory groups
will really help keep that close coordination
improved and ongoing, and hence, I look forward
to voting for this proposed decision.
I appreciate that it strengthens requirements
about advanced notification,
especially for communication providers.
It's essential that we do everything we can
to keep the communication networks up and running
during the PSPS events, and it's more complicated
with the pandemic overlaying everything.
This decision is an important one of many actions
towards mitigating the impacts
of PSPS events on public safety.
The utilities are required to do more hardening
of their systems and they are actively doing that now,
they have been for any months.
Increasing the mitigation management activities
in advance of fire season is still essential.
And so I look forward to fewer PSPS events,
and that the electricity is
brought back online much more quickly.
Thank you.
Marybel: Thank you, Commissioner Shiroma.
Commissioner Guzman Aceves?
-: Thank you, President Batjer.
I just wanted to reiterate,
many of the points that have already been made.
Really (voice distorting) we're requiring
so many of these common sense measures
because they're not created organically.
I think the need for local coordination and planning
is really what was missing so much last fall.
We saw the people when we were up in Redding
and while I was visiting some of the counties,
that some of their community resource centers
were too few or too far away.
And for example, up in Redding, one of the council members
mentioned that he was 30 miles away.
And that's why the coordination
that happening today is really needed.
We also heard today during public comments,
something that just kind of reminds us
to really help at the individual level.
Where the commenter mentioned that
they were providing hot water to the people
who were not being able to provide
their hot water on their own because of the PSPS.
So these types of things are hopefully things
that are not forecasted that can be worked through
with the local government and first responders
and the local non-governmental assistance.
And in addition, I do want to really highlight
one provision, which I know was very troublesome,
especially for many local governments,
and that was the identification
of the vulnerable customers,
and being able to share the information
on the customers who are on there for baseline.
So I appreciate that that's being worked out,
being able to be worked out in a confidential manner.
And finally, the importance of complying
with these requirements is something
that PG&E has incorporated into
forthcoming items on bankruptcy reorganization
and the enhanced enforcement that's included there,
includes compliance with more requirements
as a part of triggering events
and have some enforcement.
So it's something that (voice distorting)
the overall need where the PG&E effort takes us,
to behave more cooperatively,
presenting its mitigating steps.
So, thank you, and thank you, Judge Stevens,
for all the hard work on this.
-: Thank you, my fellow commissioners,
very much for your very helpful and important comments.
Are there any other comments to be added?
Seeing none at this time,
will the agenda clerk please call the roll?
Clerk: For item 34, Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Randolph?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Aye.
Clerk: President Batjer?
-: Aye.
Thank you very much.
It stands first vote for item 34.
Moving on.
Can everyone hear me okay?
I just heard an odd echo, okay.
Moving on in the regular agenda.
Excuse me.
Item number 37 is Commissioner Rechtschaffen.
-: Okay.
Marybel: Sorry, I have a tickle in my throat, excuse me.
Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Yes.
I just got a text that people were having trouble hearing.
I think that's been resolved, right?
Marybel: Yeah, I think so.
-: I just got a text from one of my advisors
that she cannot hear you.
-: Okay. -: So did you--
Marybel: Just me?
Molly: I can hear.
Marybel: Okay, Molly can hear and Belinda can hear,
who are here with me.
Robert, are you still on the line, can we?
Can we check the audio?
Martha: My staff is also saying they can hear you.
Marybel: They can or cannot, Martha? Yes, okay.
Martha: Yes, we can.
-: I can hear you. -: My other staff say
that you can be heard, so I think we're okay.
-: Okay.
Okay, item 37 is an Extension Order dealing with.
(electronic beep)
(upbeat electronic music)
Robert: That is correct, President Batjer.
It is the app monitor, I'm trying to reconnect him
at this time, I apologize for the inconvenience.
(electronic beep)
Woman: Are we back up?
-: Sorry. (chuckling) We were on mute on the phone, sorry.
Robert says we can resume, that we're in good shape.
Cliff, you want to test with your staff, you're good?
-: Can you hear me?
-: Yes.
-: Okay.
Okay, well, so far so good.
-: Okay, we were on item 38, the rail safety,
and I was just about ready to,
I was asking if there were any questions
of Commissioner Randolph, and I saw none.
I was asking for a vote.
So could the agenda clerk please call the roll
on item 38 rail safety.
Clerk: On item 38, Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Randolph?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Yes.
Clerk: President Batjer?
-: Aye.
Thank you.
The vote on item 38 is unanimous.
Moving on now in the regular agenda to item 39,
is under the category of energy,
and that's Commissioner Guzman Aceves.
-: Thank you, President Batjer.
This is an order extending the statutory deadline
for Liberty's General Rate Case.
The ALJ has been working on a proposed decision,
and so I am requesting a short extension of three months
until August of this year, to ensure there's enough time
to publish it and get comments.
Marybel: Okay. Thank you.
Are there any questions on number 39?
Okay, seeing none, will the agenda clerk
please call the roll?
Clerk: For item 39, Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Randolph?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Aye.
Clerk: President Batjer?
-: Aye.
Thank you.
The vote on item 39 is unanimous.
We are now moving on to item 48.
It is I.19-09-016,
the Reorganization Plan of Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
This item is a proposed decision approving the conditions
of PG&E's plan of reorganization
pursuant to the requirements of AB-1054.
I am the assigned commissioner and will present.
Before I get into the specifics
of what this proposed decision does,
I want to reflect on what we have heard today
from the public and how we have arrived where we are.
As we heard in public comment today,
and as we have heard numerous times,
since the 2017 and the 2018 wildfires,
many people and communities are angry,
frustrated, and finished with PG&E.
At times I have felt the same.
The devastation of losing a loved one
because of the company's negligence is unfathomable.
I have thought about those lives and the wildfire victims
and those homes and businesses that were lost,
every day since joining the commission.
I think about the PG&E's responsibility
to them to do better.
And my responsibility to them as a regulator,
to drive PG&E to do far better.
There are many who doubt and distrust
PG&E's ability to change in the ways that are needed.
This distrust has deep roots,
roots that have been born out of PG&E's inability
to prioritize the people it serves, and its incessant
and unstill fulfilled promises to do better tomorrow.
PG&E is in bankruptcy because of years of mismanagement
and failure to prioritize its customers' safety,
a failure that caused catastrophic destruction and death.
PG&E's years of neglecting to adequately invest
in its electrical system resulted in wildfires
that took more than a hundred people's lives,
and have upended the lives of tens of thousands more.
Investor-owned utilities have a special privilege in being
unique providers of essential services to the public.
With that privilege comes a responsibility to provide safe,
reliable, and affordable service to customers.
PG&E has consistently failed to demonstrate that
it adequately understands this privilege and responsibility.
It must correct its mistakes and upgrade its infrastructure
and serve its customers in a way it hasn't ever before.
With the current public, economic, and social disruptions
to Californians lives caused by COVID-19 pandemic,
and with so many people working and learning from home,
it is more critical than ever
that PG&E lives up to its contract.
Part of the first step in delivering on this contract,
and in transforming to a changed company,
is taking responsibilities for its failings.
PG&E, however, when given the opportunity
has consistently failed to take accountability
for its safety failings or demonstrate
that it truly appreciates the level of change needed
to transform itself into a different company.
In considering PG&E's proposed plan of reorganization,
the areas at the front of my mind have been around
how we impose accountability upon a company
whose leadership seems exceptionally unwilling or unable
to take responsibility for its failings,
and how we impose changes to this kind of leadership,
to have the vision to change this company
into the type of company the people of California deserve.
Today's proposed decision puts in place requirements
for additional accountability and mandates leadership change
and revised management structure.
But only so much can be imposed
on this company externally, as regulators.
We have to put in the guide posts,
we have put the guidepost in place.
But PG&E needs to own its own transformation.
It needs to transform into a well-run company
that has at its core, the safety, caring,
and knowledge of its customers.
This takes leadership.
Leadership with a vision and discipline
to transform the company into a model
of good corporate citizenship,
where Main Street is far more important than Wall Street.
leadership with a vision, to see and achieve a future
where the customers applaud a reliable, affordable,
clean energy they receive for the bills they pay.
Leadership whose goal is not merely
to improve its safety culture,
but to make it the best run utility in this country.
And this transformed company must move
from one that is held tightly in the grip
of continual correction of failures,
to one that is a model company that is respected
for how it serves its customers and its community.
In today's proposed decision, we deploy a set
of regulatory tools to help drive this company forward,
but PG&E needs to embrace the need for fundamental change.
Turning to the element of this proposed decision.
The proposed decision makes a number
of important determinations.
But the main element I would like to highlight today,
are the ones that I believe go most to the heart
of what is sorely needed at PG&E.
Leadership change and accountability.
Through this proposed decision we are requiring
a transformed board of directors and leadership structure.
Specifically the proposed decision requires a reorientation
of the structure of PG&E's management and board of directors
to create further safe accountability
and better representation of PG&E's customers.
The board that is in place, they will not be the board
that is going to change this company.
PG&E needs a new board of directors
that better represents and understands its customers,
and the importance and value of safety.
The proposed decision put requirements in place
to change the board makeup so it aligns with this objective.
The proposed decision also requires
regional restructuring of the company
into local operating regions.
This shift to local operating regions
is intended to change PG&E's management culture,
to bring management closer to its customers
so that the company better reflects
the diverse values and the needs of the people it services
across a large part of this state.
The transition to local operating regions
will start immediately.
The proposed decision would have PG&E submit
its regional restructuring plans
to the commission by June 30 of this year.
And in that plan, PG&E will need to address
how its regional restructuring plan will improve safety
and will impact its most vulnerable customers.
The proposed decision also puts in place
new accountability tools to ensure PG&E is held accountable
for maintaining a culture and a company
that delivers on its safety
and its reliability responsibilities.
Specifically, proposed decision establishes
a six step enhanced oversight enforcement process
that will escalate consequences upon PG&E
if it fails to improve its safety performance.
The six step oversight process provides clear guidelines
on what safety failings would move PG&E
into the enhanced oversight process
and provides clear guidelines on what PG&E would need to do
to demonstrate progress for curing any failure.
It also provides clear expectations on the steps
for revoking PG&E's authority to operate if needed.
the proposed decision also puts into place
an ongoing independent third party safety monitor
who reports to the CPUC to oversee PG&E
after its current criminal probation ends,
and requires the development of comprehensive metrics,
to monitor and measure PG&E's safety and operations ongoing.
In addition to the conditions I just described,
which are intended to drive PG&E
to fundamentally change the way it operates as a company,
the proposed decision also makes determinations
to protect rate payers.
It requires PG&E to honor its commitment not to burden
rate payers with the costs of the pre 2019 fires.
But rather propose a securitization
that must be rate neutral to rate payers,
to refinance those costs with rate revenue,
as long as it provides shareholder backed offsets.
And it may say determination
that PG&E's plan of reorganization
is rate neutral on average to PG&E's rate payers,
which is vital to ensuring rate payers
are not held responsible for the costs
of PG&E's exit from bankruptcy,
and is a critical determination under AB-1054
in order for PG&E to be eligible to participate
in the going forward state wildfire fund.
I wanted to also identify that this proposed decision
does not mark the end of our work to focus on ensuring
PG&E makes significant improvements
in how it's prioritized customers and safety,
how it prioritizes customers' safety.
Work will be ongoing in our safety culture proceedings
and other new proceedings to further develop safety
and operational metrics against PG&E's performance.
We'll be judge as well as to refine
its executive compensation structures.
As I stated earlier, this is a company
that has consistently failed to recognize
the privilege and responsibility
that comes with being a unique provider of utility services,
and is a company that, in my opinion, has yet to demonstrate
it understands that the path to being
a successful company is to focus on its customers.
I hope PG&E can demonstrate that it understands
as much as it emerges from bankruptcy,
and I, for one intend to keep a watchful eye
for the evidence that it does.
But watchful eyes are not enough.
It needs to come from within the company.
And we at the regulatory body need to hold PG&E accountable.
A lot remains to be seen, but I feel confident
that today's decision put requirements in place
to put PG&E on the track of transformation
and to focus on providing safe, reliable,
and affordable service to its customers
and to achieve our state's clean energy goals.
I understand that there will be some who disagree with
or feel frustrated with the proposed decision.
But today's decision is an important milestone
to achieving the completion of the bankruptcy process
and the compensation of the wildfire victims
impacted by the wildfires of 2017 and 2018.
Before I turn to my fellow commissioners for comments,
I want to thank the group of extremely talented
and committed public servants who worked on this proceeding.
I want to thank the Administrative Law Judge Peter Allen,
to whom I extend my sincere admiration and gratitude
for expertly managing this complex case
and aggressive timeline.
It has truly been a pleasure to work with you
on this complicated case, and I thank you for your rigor
and your collaborative spirit.
I want to particularly thank
my Bagley-Keene partner, Commissioner Rechtschaffen,
and his Chief of Staff, Sean Simon,
who have been insightful and cooperative partners
and indeed have been true partners in every way,
early mornings to late nights, weekends and holidays.
I can't thank you enough for all the hard work
and support and learning you have given me.
I could not imagine having worked
through many of these difficult issues without you.
The Commission's General Counsel Arocles Aguilar
and her excellent team of Geoff Dryvynsyde
and Candice Morey and Brandon Gerstle.
The energies have been magnificent.
I cannot thank them enough.
Again, many hours together with Arocles' staff and Candace.
And I thank them profusely.
The Energy Division,
including Deputy Executive Director Ed Randolph,
and his staff, Dorothy Duda, Michael Colvin, Kelsey Choing.
And the Safety Policy Division, including
Deputy Executive Director Rachel Peterson and her staff.
And I also would like to thank my fellow commissioners,
Commissioner Randolph, Commissioner Guzman Aceves,
and Commissioner Shiroma, for their deep engagement
in this proceeding through every milestone.
Much of your thinking is here and presented in this PD.
And I can't thank you enough for your incredibly helpful
and insightful guidance.
I finally would like to thank
my Chief of Staff, Shannon O'Rourke,
and my former Chief of Staff, James Ralph,
who contributed to so much
at the foundation of this proceeding
and eventually the outcome of this proposed decision.
With that, my fellow commissioners,
I ask for your support for item 48.
Thank you.
Yes, Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Thank you very much, President Batjer.
Thank you for your kind words
and for your steadfast and exemplary leadership.
You didn't have a chance to blink when you came to the CPUC
before this bankruptcy proceeding started,
and you handled it with unbelievable grace and skill.
And we all are benefiting from that.
And I want to thank you for your very eloquent introduction,
setting the context here, the enormous stakes,
and the extraordinary challenge,
given PG&E's past record.
I won't repeat what you said.
I do want to highlight a few things.
And as you noted, and as we talked today,
the comments from the public are testament
to the powerful impact that utilities have on our lives.
And the voices we heard today reflect
many other Californians, many other customers.
And to those folks who commented,
I want to say, we've consistently heard you
over the past 18 months at our many meetings
around the state, our virtual meetings in San Francisco,
calling for change, sharing your ideas, your frustrations,
your anger, your concerns, and your devastating losses.
And they are devastating, as President Batjer said.
Probably for me, the most heart rendering meeting we had
was last October in Redding where we heard
from those devastated by the Camp Fire,
who also experienced impacts from the power shutoffs.
That meeting was particularly haunting for me.
Having said that, bankruptcies are almost always
messy and complicated, and by definition,
resolved in ways that do not satisfy all the parties.
And this decision is no different.
It's not perfect from any stakeholder's perspective.
I support it because it provides changes
needed to achieve a reformed PG&E.
And it does achieve a number
of critically important objectives
that President Batjer talked about, protecting rate payers,
compensating wildfire victims, improving PG&E's safety,
enhancing the PUC's oversight and enforcement,
and also providing a path for PG&E's financial viability.
And of overriding importance,
until this bankruptcy is resolved,
no victims can receive compensation.
So what we do here is critical for moving forward.
Probably the most important thing that the public
and legislators want to know, and rightly so,
is whether the PG&E that emerges from bankruptcy
will be different than the prior company
that President Batjer so eloquently described.
And whether PG&E indeed will be safer and more reliable
and better focused on consumer welfare?
They also want to know how our oversight
and regulation could be different
so that PG&E will be more accountable than in the past.
We heard that repeatedly, today and in other meetings.
The bankruptcy order includes a number of elements
that are designed to change the culture
and operations of the company.
And it's also very important to keep in mind
that these steps are only one of a series of actions
that we are taking to improve PG&E's safety performance
and enhance our oversight of the company.
Those will be ongoing, as President Batjer mentioned.
Some of the key elements of this order
include, as President Batjer said, a new board structure,
and that includes a minimum of half of board members
being residents of California, with a preference
for those living in PG&E's service territory.
And then of critical importance is this still enhanced
oversight and enforcement scheme.
And this puts at risk PG&E's license to operate
if it causes fires like it did in 2017 or 2018,
or otherwise performs poorly.
This process, it puts structure around
the authority we already have to review,
and if necessary, to revoke a license
or condition a license that PG&E has.
It also gives some predictability to PG&E,
some transparency to the public.
I think it dovetails well with
Governor Newsome's Plan B legislation,
And it sends a very strong signal to PG&E
that a CPCN, their license to operate,
and to serve customers, is a privilege.
It's a privilege, and it's not a right,
it can be taken away if PG&E doesn't perform well.
The decision establishes an outside
independent safety monitor that will start
once the independent federal monitor leaves and is done
with his work, and that will be a seamless process.
A new operation with safety metrics,
as President Batjer mentioned.
I want to mention a couple of other things.
The decision establishes a strong linkage
between the compensation that executives earn
and safety performance, as well as a link between
compensation and customer engagement and satisfaction.
And that link will be based on clear metrics.
This includes a couple of items worth highlighting.
One is that a significant portion of compensation
will be linked to long term performance
and defers for at least three years.
There is also a presumption, in the compensation team,
that a material portion of compensation shall be withheld
if PG&E's ignition is the source of a catastrophic wildfire.
And there are also provisions that allow
for the cancellation of severance pay
in the event that PG&E is convicted of a felony
related to health and safety or financial misconduct.
Quite simply, if PG&E is convicted of a felony,
it's a horrible year for the utility,
and executives should not walk away
with handsome bonuses in that situation.
Finally, that the plan, as President Batjer noted,
includes the requirement for PG&E
to create local operating regions.
I want to note that as part of this plan,
the decision requires PG&E to discuss
how the plan for regionalization
will impact low income and disadvantaged communities,
along with hard to reach customers
and communities that have been
subjected to wildfire and or power shutoffs.
And I'd also like to thank, as I mentioned,
there are numerous other efforts underway
to change PG&E's safety performance.
We heard some of that in our earlier discussion
about the new PSPS guidelines.
There are much more stringent wildfire mitigation measures
that we've been working on, including the adoption
of a maturity matrix model.
As part of the order resolving the 2017 and 2018 wildfires,
PG&E is required to conduct a root cause analysis
for each of the fires it caused, and to fund
necessary system enhancements identified in those analyses.
Also, we have an ongoing safety code proceedings
for PG&E that looks at a broad set of systemic issues.
I'm just gonna take one moment to express my view
that as part of the state's culture,
we should continue to explore the concept
of linking PG&E's earnings to its performance,
as judged by safety and operational metrics.
Admittedly it's complex, it'd take time to do well.
But I think it's worth pursuing,
and will send another strong signal that things are not
business as usual for PG&E going forward.
Performance based regulation can be an important tool
to promote improved utility performance,
including in the area of state that were just noted.
There's a growing interest in this concept in recent years,
legislation's been passed and there's like 10 other states
directing PUCs to explore this concept,
and our neighbors in Colorado, Nevada, and Hawaii,
all have open dockets on this.
Some states such as Illinois and Ohio
have already adopted performance based benefit,
including explicit links to safety.
In many other aspects, the decision, as you've heard,
I want to reemphasize just one more,
that's for the rate payers.
As President Batjer notes, the decision ensures rate payers
will not bear increased costs as a result of the bankruptcy.
About half of PG&E's existing debt
will be refinanced at lower interest rates,
and that means a cost savings to rate payers.
PG&E's professional fees related to the bankruptcy,
as well as those at CPUC, will be paid
by its shareholders and not rate payers.
And PG&E's securitization application,
to recover wildfire costs, which is not part
of this bankruptcy plan, also will be very useful.
PG&E has committed that, that they estimated
that all costs of securitization will be offset.
I want to respond, finally, to a comment we received
from the CPUC's Disadvantaged Communities Advisory Board,
requesting that it be engaged
in any future activity to reorganize PG&E.
We're hoping this reorganization is successful.
We don't have to go down that path,
but I will say that if and when we do, there will be
many opportunities for public engagement that will include
the Disadvantaged Communities Advisory Group.
I want to close with a note of gratitude
for PG&E's thousands of employees,
for staying committed to their work
through this time of great uncertainty.
And even public attacks, it's very difficult,
but we've all greatly benefited for this.
With PG&E's leadership, as President Batjer said,
this is the moment to step up.
This is the time for a PG&E to emerge from bankruptcy
that must be reborn, with its safety as its top priority.
Your future depends on it, really.
Nothing more or less that that.
I want to echo my great appreciation to the staff
that President Batjer mentioned,
the Legal staff, Energy Division, ALJ Allen,
President Batjer and her staff.
And I do want to take the privilege of the floor
just to thank, one of the unsung heroes,
although President Batjer kindly states,
which is Sean Simon, my Chief of Staff,
who really was borrowed by the commission
to become the administrative point person
for this bankruptcy decision,
and all other bankruptcy related issues.
And he's just done an extraordinary job.
He's incredibly organized, super proactive,
always thinking ahead, extremely conscientious.
He took whatever people asked him to do, whenever,
whatever, in whatever form, he did it.
And on top of that, his kindness
and thoughtfulness around it.
Even though you've already thanked him,
I want to just thank him again.
And I do thank you for your work across the board,
President Batjer, and your strong leadership throughout.
Thank you.
-: Commissioner Rechtschaffen, thank you very much.
There is not enough thanks in the world for Sean.
So thank you for underscoring that.
And so many others, if I start naming again,
I will get in trouble because I want to underscore
that when James Ralph left my staff,
Sean picked up an awful lot of work.
And I was borrowing Sean too.
Not only just the Commissioner, but I too.
So thanks so much, so many times.
Okay, Commissioner Randolph?
-: All right.
First, let me thank you,
President Batjer and Commissioner Rechtschaffen
for putting so much work into the proceedings,
hours and hours and hours.
And I cannot say how much I respect your careful diligence,
thoroughness and diplomacy in dealing with
this really difficult, difficult task.
I'd like to thank all of the parties
and members of the public who put time and effort
into participating in this proceeding
and commenting on the issues.
As Commissioner Rechtschaffen noted,
over the last 18 to 24 months,
we have heard a lot of very difficult stories
and concerns from all over California.
And we really do listen to those concerns
and take them to heart and keep them in mind
as we're trying to weigh these difficult decisions.
To my mind, the two most important features of this decision
are getting the fire victims compensated
as quickly as possible and ensuring that we have
a robust escalating enforcement process
that as Commissioner Rechtschaffen noted,
put the framework around our existing authority to review
and potentially revoke the company's right to operate.
So having a structure and metrics around that
is a key step forward that will help us
in changing fundamentally the oversight of the company.
And then I just want to talk a little bit about
some of the discussion we heard today from the commenters.
As Gina Berrigan stated very succinctly,
we need a different PG&E.
I think this decision moves us in that direction.
And as President Batjer said,
we absolutely need the company to step up.
But the other thing we heard from commenters was
that they want to see not just a different PG&E,
but also a different energy system.
And so I want to focus my comments for a moment on the fact
that moving PG&E out of bankruptcy and having it continue
to exist as a private company in no way takes us away
from the state's climate change goals.
Our regulatory levers and authority
to meet our climate goals go far beyond just the RPS.
All load serving entities, including
investor owned utilities, CPAs, are required to meet
the state's greenhouse gas reduction targets
and the SB 100 clean energy goals.
And there's absolutely nothing in this decision
that absolved PG&E of that responsibility.
The decision protects the long standing
clean energy contracts that this commission
ordered PG&E to execute many years ago,
that built a foundation for today's
significant energy sector reductions in GHG emissions.
It was important that this proceeding
protect the integrity of those contracts
to ensure confidence to the renewable energy market,
and that has been achieved.
And there are many other ways in which this commission
is working on ensuring that we have,
that we meet those goals and that we have
the cleanest energy system possible.
We have everything from our microgrids proceeding,
to self generation incentive proceeding,
many many ways, our electric vehicle work that we are doing,
all of which push all of our IOUs, not just PG&E,
to make steps towards a new clean energy economy.
And there is no reason to think that that effort
will not continue as a result of this decision.
In fact, recently, PG&E applied
for more significant investments in clean energy resources,
including a proposed 423 megawatts of battery storage
late last year, as IRP's procurement decision.
And, unusual for a natural gas company in the state,
PG&E has actually expressed willingness
to have conversations, to think carefully about,
what our transition away from a fossil fuel,
natural gas distribution system
will look like in the future.
It is our goal in all of our work here
at the commission and elsewhere in state government,
that all load serving entities,
whether investor-owned or publicly owned,
do their share to continue to lead this state
and this nation in creating a clean energy grid.
And we are not stepping away
from that commitment whatsoever.
So again, thank you, President Batjer,
Commissioner Rechtschaffen.
I also wanted to take a moment
to thank former President Picker.
Some of the, sort of enforcement concepts and ideas
that went into this decision came from
the safety culture OII spearheaded.
And this decision definitely reflects
some of his careful thinking.
So I just wanted to thank him for that.
So, thank you so much,
and I'll definitely be supporting the decision.
-: Thank you, Commissioner Randolph.
Thank you so much for mentioning President Picker.
I was remiss in not doing that.
He had, a huge imparter on much
of what we were able to accomplish.
So thank you very much for recognizing him.
I appreciate that.
Commissioner Guzman Aceves?
-: Thank you, President Batjer,
and thank you Commissioner Rechtschaffen,
for all your work on this.
I find that even though, (voice distorting)
and walking through my thinking about this decision
and how I saw this coming about a year and a half ago.
To me it was very clear that, it was insensitive for PG&E
to file for bankruptcy in the first place.
It was their lack to manage all the liability claims
that they had acquired because of the 2017 and 2018 fires.
And they chose the route through bankruptcy
in order to leverage their existence,
to reduce all of these immense liabilities.
Their strategy to just have the pull of bankruptcy
to reduce their liability, quickly drew speculators
from many companies that we didn't want to see,
including a possibility of a complete takeover
by a hedge fund that we were very concerned about.
There were also many other more positive proposals
that came forward.
And then in our deliberations we heard these arguments,
such as the ones that we heard today,
to simply pull PG&E's CPCN to allow us to censor it
or some version of that.
Always in the back, the limitation was the ability
to really have the authority to establish
a replacement agency of any sort.
I personally hope that there'll be
a possible public buyer that will come forward.
At one point there was speculation that another utility
would potentially buy them out.
Then there were arguments, there were some proposals,
that PG&E should be municipalized, statewide,
and we heard many of those comments today.
We were even presented,
by regional municipalization proposals,
from South San Joaquin Irrigation District,
Nevada Irrigation District,
Valley Clean Energy, and the city (voice distorting).
And then there were also efforts that we heard
of to bring PG&E into a public benefit mutual corporation,
proposed by Mayor Liccardo of San Jose,
and 26 other elected officials.
There was also the proposal, that the state take over,
and many of today's public comments,
the Reclaim Our Power Coalition,
Democratic Socialists of America,
Youth vs Apocalypse, as well as many others,
proposed the state take over.
Just last week, David Freeman's final opinion piece
that was published in the Sac Bee after his death,
even recommends separating the transmission assets
from PG&E and forming them as a public entity.
And as you know, there's many other possibilities
in between those that certainly,
more specific reforms to the ones
you highlighted today in the reorganization plan.
Unfortunately, for various reasons,
but primarily due to the large climate realities.
we're dealing with decades of under-investment,
with these massive liabilities,
really limited involvement (voice distorting)
in a timely way for now.
Many of these customers, and nothing public
in the bond holder's proposal materialized in bankruptcy.
And then as you have mentioned, certainly,
the largest issue for me, was that the victims,
the survivors of the fires,
voted to approve this bankruptcy,
in order to receive some of the payments.
So in addition to this conundrum
of not having any other real buyers,
and having buyers that might not get
the survivors' vote for this reorganization,
we also lacked some real statutory authority.
Challenges, not to mention our regulatory contract,
but also (voice distorting)
fundamental failure of the utility.
The regulatory structure,
as you mentioned, President Batjer,
contracts with a monopoly utility,
is you're not getting through the scenario
that the private utility model itself was flawed.
It wasn't like the last bankruptcy,
that dealt strictly with market manipulation
and excess debt that needed refinancing.
This bankruptcy is more fundamental because we contemplated
the replacement of the monopoly utility as we know it today.
And our statutory authority
to replace it full stop is lacking.
Fortunately today, through the governor's leadership
and the legislative leadership,
we have Senator Hill's Bill SB 350
that will soon provide us as a state with tools
to replace PG&E with customer selected
public options should they fail.
This bill would give rate payers a genuine alternative
if PG&E failed to provide safe,
reliable, and affordable energy.
Then the commission could petition the court
to find a receiver or the commission could revoke
PG&E's CPCN, and most importantly,
if it does either of those,
we now have a real back up alternative.
with Golden State Energy, a nonprofit,
public benefit corporation, which would have as its mission,
the provision of gas and electric service
for the benefit of all Californians in its territory.
The reforms this regulatory (voice distorting)
do not only achieve the structural organization reforms
put forward here that you saw when we highlighted,
such as the executive comp incentives,
the regionalization of the organizations itself,
and their Californian-led board makeup.
But it also changes us as a commission.
The role of us, our public commission,
has fundamental changed by these reforms.
No longer are we expected to wait
on the leadership of the utility
and fine them for the failure to act.
But we ourselves have to prevent continued failures
and trigger intervention, including replacing PG&E,
if needed, to prevent another catastrophe.
Alternately, it is this real threat
of replacement that SB-350 provides.
It allows me to have the realistic expectation
that PG&E will perform and meet its obligations
under this reorganization.
Finally, although you do find that this plan
meets the rate neutrality required
as a result of this reorganization,
the greatest challenge will be to maintain affordability
as we move forward and require greater investment
for ensuring a safer resilient electrical and gas service,
especially given the economic reality
in California, given the COVID crisis.
The future post-bankruptcy leadership of PG&E will require
great efficiency, collaboration, and innovation
to meet the challenge of updating
the infrastructure of this failing system,
while maintaining affordable energy bills.
The challenge is immense, and with this vote,
we grant the challenging opportunity
to the restructured PG&E.
But, if it fails, we will finally have hope to replace it.
Thank you.
-: Thank you very much, Commissioner Guzman Aceves.
Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Yes. Thank you, Batjer.
I want to thank the public who took their precious time,
to write us emails, and share comments in person,
and various commission meetings,
really over the last 18 months,
and including last Wednesday and today.
I appreciate hearing directly from so many of you
on this very important item.
I hear the frustration, I hear it too many years,
of PG&E misplacing priority and neglecting
the basic and precious foundation
of the infrastructure of their utility
that provides such an essential service.
In taking on the role of commissioner last year,
I recognize the enormity of the challenges faced by the PUC.
Devastating wildfires, devastating family,
PG&E in bankruptcy, and rating agencies hovering.
My priority then and now are that the victims
be compensated fairly, that customers have access
to safe, reliable, affordable, and excellent service,
that we continue to make progress
on our climate change goals,
and that attention is paid,
especially to those customers with less need.
I reviewed the proposed decision,
the CPUC proposed decision,
and there is a lot of reference to the PUD plan.
Here we are looking at adoption of the CPUC decision.
I reviewed that decision through those lenses
I just outlined.
And I will be supporting the proposed decision.
I appreciate that a number of revisions were made
to the proposed decision, in response to comments,
including revisions to the key steps, six steps,
which could lead to revoking PG&E's
authority to operate, revoking their permit,
under some very specific circumstances.
The provisions in the decision, overall, in my view,
enhance safety and accountability.
And our oversight does not end here.
And several commissioners referred
to our follow on proceedings, and specifically,
the safety culture proceeding, and there are others.
The PSPS decision that we just adopted out also adds
to the pull string of what we are requiring from PG&E.
I would like to, in conclusion, thankfully say,
President Batjer, Commissioner Rechtschaffen.
Judge Allen, the parties and the many staff,
who have worked on this decision over many, many months,
and others have spoken to that.
I would also, as one of our commenters said today,
about the employees at PG&E, that in the aftermath
of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989,
that her relative was helped by a PG&E employee
who, despite the devastation, was still at work.
And so, as Commissioner Rechtschaffen also alluded to,
I want to thank the rank and file
utility and energy workers of PG&E.
Of course it all starts with employees,
because they are the ones that are frontline,
going to work every day to keep the system operating.
And on a day like today, it's a 100 degrees.
In Sacramento it's been a heat wave.
We think about the devastating storms,
winds, rain, so forth.
These workers are out there repairing lines
and helping individual households and customers,
so I do also want to thank them.
So I will be supporting the proposed decision.
It's been a long haul, and we're not done yet.
This is a milestone, as President Batjer says.
And we have more to do,
upon the adoption of this proposed decision.
Thank you very much.
-: Thank you to all my fellow commissioners
for those very rich and important comments.
Again, thank you to my Bagley-Keene partner
and ally on this march that we started in October.
And you're right, I still feel like a newbie,
and boy, those days, although it seems quite some time ago,
we've come a very long way.
And I thank you all for all of your attention to detail,
your thoughtfulness, your deep thinking,
that helped get us to this point today.
So with that, will the agenda clerk, please call the roll?
Clerk: For item 48, Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Guzman Aceves?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Randolph?
-: Aye.
Clerk: Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: Aye.
Clerk: And President Batjer?
-: Aye.
Thank you.
The vote for item 48 Reorganization Plan
of Pacific Gas and Electric Company is unanimous.
Thank you all very much.
We will now turn to the next item
on our agenda, the management report.
There is no report for item 40, which is the report
and discussion on recent consumer
protection and safety activity.
And I now will turn to Executive Director Stebbins
for item 41, which is the manager report
on administrative activities, Alice?
Alice: Thank you, President Batjer and Commissioners.
I would like to acknowledge the retirement of one
of our Consumer Affairs Representatives, Rosario Cervantes.
Rosario has worked at four state agencies,
through 40 years of state service,
starting with the Employment Development Department
and ending with the CPUC,
where she has been for the past 33 years,
The last 14 of those years have been
with our Consumer Affairs Branch,
or CAB, as we like to call it.
Rosario's supervisor, Carol Bullion,
had the opportunity to work
side by side with Rosario for many years.
And he quickly realized that Rosario was always
committed to consumers and always worked
for a favorable consumer resolution.
The CPUC has always been able
to count on Rosario in times of need.
In the fast paced environment of CAB,
Rosario always handled customer complaints
professionally and completely.
In fact, Carol has had to tell her
to go home after hours on more than one occasion because
she was working so many hours handling consumer complaints.
She will be handling cases up to her last day
at the end of this month.
So Rosario, I know you're listening, from all of us at CPUC,
thank you so much for your 40 years of service
to the state of California.
That's all, President Batjer.
-: Yay.
Yay.
Rosario, that's incredible.
Thank so much for your public service.
I always love to hear wonderful public service stories
with my own devotion to what I think
is the most noblest thing that we can all do,
and that is serve our fellow human beings.
So Rosario, thank you, from the bottom of my heart
and those of my fellow commissioners.
Thank you, Alice.
I do hope Rosario is listening. (chuckling)
Sorry we can't wave to Rosario.
Alright, thank you very much, that's really heartwarming.
We're now moving to commissioner reports.
Is there any commissioner who would like to report
or start first if you do have a report?
Ah, Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
-: I just have two quick personnel items.
I wanted to first thank Jessica Jandura
who was a law clerk for my office this past semester.
She's graduating from law school,
and she's been snatched by the ALJ Division,
where she'd worked previously over the summer,
as she prepares for the bar.
She was a fantastic intern, we wish her well,
we'll miss her, but I'm very glad
she's staying at the commission.
Secondly, I want to welcome Alyssa Cheung,
who is joining my office this summer as an intern.
Alyssa is a second year student at the Goldman School,
focusing on environmental justice and climate policy.
She previously worked at the Energy Foundation.
She'll be here for the next two and a half months.
Now, obviously you can't stop by and say hello,
but maybe send her a virtual hello
and invite her to any interesting things going on
that a second year MPH MPP student
at the Goldman School would be interested in.
Thank you.
-: That's terrific.
We all look forward to meeting her.
Any other commissioners who would like to report today?
Okay, seeing none,
That finishes out the commissioners reports.
And I must say, I want to wish everyone health.
Please continue to be safe.
Please continue to be smart.
This public meeting is now adjourned.
Thank you all.